Exclusive: Fabrizio Romano reveals player’s “focus” amid Arsenal transfer interest

Transfer news expert Fabrizio Romano has cleared up some recent rumours involving Arsenal’s interest in Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi for the summer.

The Spain international has impressed a great deal during his time in La Liga, and it would make sense that Gunners boss Mikel Arteta could see him as an ideal addition to his midfield options at the Emirates Stadium.

Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for his latest column in the Daily Briefing, Romano made it clear that although nothing is happening now with Zubimendi, who is fully focused on completing this season with Sociedad, there is genuine interest not only from Arsenal, but also from Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

However, although Romano acknowledged some recent reports about Arsenal laying the groundwork to sign Zubimendi for the summer, it seems those reports are wide of the mark.

Discussing his latest information on Zubimendi and Arsenal, Romano said: “Martin Zubimendi is on Arsenal, Barcelona and Bayern list for the summer.

“At the moment, there is nothing more than this as Zubimendi only wants to focus on Real Sociedad and he loves his club. He is fully focused on La Liga and the Champions League, with no distraction at all. It will take time, there is nothing for February or March, despite some talk that Arsenal have already been ‘laying the groundwork’ for this deal.”

Arsenal surely need to make changes to their midfield this summer after a challenging season in which Thomas Partey has barely played due to repeated injury problems.