What does Mikel Arteta imagine his perfect Arsenal midfield looking like?
In the autumn of 2022, it appeared to have come to life: Thomas Partey at the base, threading passes through gaps; Martin Odegaard on the right, spinning webs with Ben White and Bukayo Saka; and on the left, Granit Xhaka, sometimes drifting wide to pick out a cross and sometimes ghosting into the opposition box to get on the end of a cutback.
The first two components have been present again this season, albeit at a reduced capacity, but ever since Xhaka was sold in July 2023, Arsenal have failed to find a formula which replicates that fluidity or balance.
The final piece of the jigsaw has proved elusive, and it has now emerged Arsenal are working on a deal to sign Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi at the end of the season.
Have they finally found the player who will restore the alchemy at the heart of their team, or does it risk more players operating between two positions?
In isolation, the signing of Zubimendi — a 25-year-old with more than 200 games to his name for club and country, who Liverpool made a concerted effort to sign in the summer — would be a coup. Against England in the European Championship final last July he showed the anticipation that makes him a terrific ball-winner and the pass selection that fits with Arteta’s obsession with dominance.
With Partey, 31, and Jorginho, 33, both set to be out of contract in the summer, the arrival of a new No 6 could also potentially solve two issues: saving Arsenal money on wages and lowering the age profile at that position.
Zubimendi and Rice faced each other in the Euro 2024 final (Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)
In year five of squad-building under Arteta, however, Arsenal transfers do not occur in a vacuum. They are judged not only on whether the player performs as an individual, but on the net improvement of the team that follows and whether it is the optimal position to prioritise.
In the case of Zubimendi, the contending context is that Arsenal need an elite goalscorer. Adding a defensive midfielder does not solve that issue.
If they have managed to sign both come the summer, Arsenal committing about £60million ($73m) on a holding midfielder in the Spaniard presumably means Declan Rice — the holding midfielder they spent £110m on 18 months ago — is now viewed primarily as a No 8.
The argument over whether Rice should be a defensive midfielder or operate further forward is one that has dictated Arsenal’s recruitment since the Englishman’s move from West Ham. All roads lead back to it, whether that be Kai Havertz, Mikel Merino or, now, Zubimendi.
During Arteta’s sales pitch as he tried to recruit Rice, the player was sold the vision of him as the No 6, with Havertz and Odegaard ahead of him. The plan to convert Havertz into a left-sided central midfielder ultimately hinged upon getting Rice, as he was judged to have the unique profile required to cover the space behind.
Rice would have a stellar debut season but started his first game for Arsenal, in the Community Shield, in a slightly more advanced role, as the left-sided central midfielder. It was initially interpreted as Arteta’s way of maximising his pressing ability against top teams in matches where Arsenal may not have as much possession as usual, but Rice found himself there for the final six games of the season once Partey returned from the injury that had kept him out until then.
After permanently abandoning the original Havertz-in-midfield plan in February and switching him to centre-forward, the Xhaka-shaped hole in midfield appeared for a second summer running.
As Rice had filled in there on occasion last season, the fundamental internal debate at Arsenal, when the window opened in June, was whether to make that role his own and recruit a No 6, or double down on Rice at the base and sign a No 8 instead. Zubimendi was one of Arsenal’s original targets but he did not want to leave boyhood club Real Sociedad, whereas team-mate and fellow Spain international Merino, three years his senior, was open to it.
There was a sense that the latter’s arrival had answered the Rice positional dilemma and he would simply revert to his deeper role. Six months and 31 games into the season, however, it is more alive than ever.
The knock-on effect of signing Zubimendi is that it could leave Arsenal with three players who can play as a No 8 but are arguably best suited to a deeper position, leaving them still without a natural No 8 replacement for Xhaka, who himself was converted from a No 6 by Arteta.
Although Arteta has increasingly signed players who can operate in multiple positions, Rice has become a floating part when he was supposed to be the rudder.
Given how Havertz and Merino were both signed for that exact role, adding Zubimendi and the consolidating effect on Rice’s position could essentially overwrite the previous two attempts at solving this problematic area. If a new striker then usurps Havertz, both players will be searching for a home within the team.
Perhaps youngster Ethan Nwaneri could make the switch over to that side of midfield after gaining important first-team experience this season, but the shadow of Xhaka looms large.
Merino has looked like a player who falls somewhere vaguely between the identikit of Arteta’s ideal No 6 and his dream No 8, which has left him on the periphery, searching for ways to make an impact. He could be buoyed by the arrival of his former La Liga midfield partner but he has not got off to the best of starts in England, not helped by the fractured shoulder he suffered in his very first Arsenal training session.
Summer 2024 signing Merino has struggled to make an impact (Getty Images)
That injury saw Rice take up the reins as the left-sided central midfielder, and the Spaniard has not imposed himself enough in his 12 starts to force another redeployment of the Englishman. Excluding an eight-game stretch when Arteta switched to a midfield two during Odegaard’s absence with an ankle problem, Rice has played there in 12 of the 15 starts he has made as part of a midfield trio.
It is commonly known that Rice’s preference is to play as a No 6 but he does also enjoy being involved in other phases of the game, having been limited in what he could do in possession for so long at West Ham, a counter-attacking team.
Conventional wisdom is that Rice showcases his ball-carrying ability more often as a No 8, but Opta statistics show his average carries per 90 minutes have fallen from 48.4 last season to 35.8. When split between his games as a No 6 last season and a No 8 in this one, it is even more stark: from 54.1 to 27.1.
The doubts around his limitations in a more advanced role are the same as those that persist with Merino: does either of them offer enough creativity or goal threat in the final third for a team lacking a 30-goals-a-season forward?
“We have had instability there in recent years, so finding that stability, the relationship, time together and players they can connect with each other and finding that chemistry is very important,” Arteta said in November.
Yet, there is clearly a vision Arteta has for that role. The overlap between Xhaka, Havertz, Merino and Rice is that they are all tall, powerful, left-footers who are strong in duels and can attack the box.
It means there is a jarring clash of styles on either side of the pitch. While Arsenal’s right flank is about intricate connections and identifiable patterns, the function of the left is to be more direct and to attack by overcrowding the back post on in-swinging corners from the right.
Rice can drive Arsenal up the pitch in a way few others can, but receiving on the half-turn and bursting down the side of the box are not familiar situations he has found himself in before this positional switch.
His influence has waned compared to last season, though that is also down to playing fewer minutes. In the last month, he has not started games against Crystal Palace, Brentford and Manchester United, the latter in the FA Cup, despite being someone who is desperate to play every match and feels at his sharpest when they come thick and fast. It may just take more time for him to fully evolve into the left No 8 Arteta envisages.
If the addition of Zubimendi does turn out to be his countryman’s final, successful attempt at completing that midfield jigsaw, it will mark the end of quite a journey to get there.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
