A changing of the guard will soon occur in the Arsenal midfield, as the Gunners are now said to have reached a verbal agreement to sign Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad this summer.
The 26-year-old could not bear the thought of leaving his boyhood club for Liverpool last year, but there should be no late change of heart this time around, having given Arsenal his word over a long-term agreement.
All that is left for the Gunners to do is to trigger the £50.8m release clause in Zubimendi’s Real Sociedad contract, after which the Spaniard will become both Arsenal’s first signing of the summer and the first arrival of the Andrea Berta era.
The Euro 2024 winner’s predecessors Thomas Partey and Jorginho are both out of contract at the end of the season, but how do Zubimendi’s numbers stack up to Arsenal’s current crop of midfielders?
Using data from FBref for the 2024-25 domestic season, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at how Zubimendi compares to Partey, Jorginho and Declan Rice.
Zubimendi attacking comparison
First and foremost, it is important to note that Rice has made 33 top-flight appearances in the current campaign, while Zubimendi and Partey are both on 32 matches, and Jorginho has only featured on 14 occasions in the 2024-25 Premier League season.
Furthermore, while Arsenal are on course for a runners-up finish in the Premier League – sitting second in the rankings with 64 goals scored – Real Sociedad have managed just half of that tally in La Liga as they languish in 11th place.
Regardless, none of Partey, Zubimendi or Jorginho were signed – or will be signed – for their attacking prowess, as the Real Sociedad man has only had a direct hand in three goals in the current La Liga term, two of his own and one assist.
Rice unsurprisingly dominates the involvements column with 10 – three strikes and seven assists – while Partey has found the back of the net four times and laid on two helpers in the Premier League; Jorginho has not scored or assisted in the top flight this term.
However, Zubimendi does top the charts for the percentage of shots on target, finding the mark 33.3% of the time with six efforts on goal from 18 attempts; meanwhile, only a quarter of Rice’s attempts – 11 from 44 – are goal-bound.
The Real Sociedad man ranks the lowest out of the four when it comes to shot-creating actions per match, though, only averaging 1.41 every 90 minutes, while Rice boasts 3.61 from his number eight role and Partey 2.07.
Zubimendi is no stranger to advancing the ball up the field, though, as the 26-year-old has completed 66.7% of his take-on attempts successfully this season, putting him in the top 10 in La Liga, level with Partey and above Rice’s 46.4%.
Zubimendi defensive comparison
Zubimendi’s bread and butter, the Spaniard has registered 70 tackles across the course of the La Liga season – the 10th most in the division – although Partey has put in 80 challenges and has won a higher percentage of them.
The Ghana international has prevailed in 49 of those duels for a success rate of 61.2%, while Zubimendi has won 37 of his 70 (52.9%) and Rice is down at 46.2% with 24 tackles won from 52 attempts.
However, Zubimendi leads the way when it comes to percentage of dribblers tackled specifically, triumphing 63.6% of the time to marginally edge out Partey’s 61.1%, whereas Rice is again further down with a success rate of 43.2%.
The Real Sociedad man has also made significantly more clearances (74), blocks (39) and a few more interceptions (also 39) than his Arsenal counterparts, although that can be partially explained by the two clubs’ respective positions in their tables.
Zubimendi is not free of mistakes either, as the data shows that he has registered three errors leading to a shot in the 2024-25 La Liga season – one fewer than Partey and one more than Jorginho – while Rice has not made a single such blunder in the Premier League.
The England international also tops the charts for ball recoveries, posting 143 in total, although Zubimendi’s 131 is still slightly superior to Partey’s 123.
Zubimendi all-around play comparison
Despite not being the tallest player at 5ft 11in, Zubimendi actually towers over Partey and Rice in the metaphorical sense when it comes to aerial duels, as his 61.7% win rate off the ground is better than Mikel Arteta‘s midfielders.
In comparison, Rice has won 56.4% of his aerial battles – slightly better than Partey’s 54.2% – while Jorginho has only contested seven battles while airborne but has won just one of them for a 14.3% success rate.
There is not a huge difference when it comes to the quartet’s general passing statistics, although Zubimendi’s completion rate of 83.2% is actually the worst of the four; Partey leads the way in that regard with 87.3%, and Zubimendi is the only one of the four who has not completed at least 90% of his short passes.
The Spaniard is more accurate than Rice and Jorginho when it comes to spraying long balls, though, completing 63.9% of passes that travel at least 30 yards, and his 177 progressive passes – the 10th most in La Liga – is only marginally inferior to Rice’s 180.
Playing for a mid-table La Liga side, Zubimendi has unsurprisingly committed more fouls than Jorginho, Rice and Partey in top-flight action this season with 41, although Partey has only illegally impeded an opponent on one fewer occasion.
The statistics certainly back up the belief that Partey has enjoyed one of his best – if not the best – campaign in an Arsenal shirt so far, but with Zubimendi significantly younger and far less injury prone, the passing of the torch has to happen sooner rather than later.
> Click here to see which shirt numbers could be available to Zubimendi at Arsenal
