‘I’d be surprised’: Journalist suggests Arsenal aren’t signing 24-year-old, they’re going for £80m man instead

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Some rather bullish reports emerged from Spain on Tuesday claiming that Martin Zubimendi was close to agreeing a deal to join Arsenal.

These rumours came from left-field, and they certainly took a few of us by surprise.

Inevitably, this story was called into question, and according to Football.London’s Tom Canton this report is to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Indeed, the journalist says that he’d be surprised if this story was accurate as he’s led to believe that Arsenal will go for the £80m-rated Declan Rice.

Rice over Zubimendi

Canton shared what he knows about this situation.

“Arsenal were interested, and that is certainly true, Arsenal were interested in Zubimendi and that existed in January. However the player was keen to stay at Sociedad until the end of the season. Reports from Spain suggest that a deal to Arsenal could be close to being agreed. Personally I’ve heard nothing on this story, so I would take it with a pinch of salt,” Canton said.

“I’d be surprised if this is the case, as we know Arsenal are moving as a priority towards Declan Rice, that’s the player they want, that’s the player they are working hard to try and get done, it’s getting close to silly season and we will see these crazy transfer stories everywhere.”

Didn’t add up

In all honesty, the Zubimendi stories didn’t make too much sense when they emerged given what we know about Arsenal’s summer plans so far.

As we all know, Arsenal do want to add to their midfield this summer, but with Declan Rice as their top target, it’s hard to imagine that any other player will come close to signing until Rice’s future is decided one way or another.

With nothing on the horizon with Rice, it’s tough to put any real stock in any other midfield rumours regarding Arsenal.