Transfer news expert Fabrizio Romano explains why he thinks Arsenal would be better off signing Real Sociedad midfielder Martino Zubimendi than Premier League duo Douglas Luiz or Amadou Onana.

Speaking to CaughtOffside in his Daily Briefing column, Romano said that while Luiz and Onana have already proved themselves in English football at Aston Villa and Everton respectively, Zubimendi has shown during his time at Real Sociedad that he could be the ideal fit for what Mikel Arteta needs in the middle of the park.

The Spain international certainly looks like he could add something to that Arsenal midfield that hasn’t looked the same since Granit Xhaka’s departure last summer, although Romano also noted that so far he seemed perfectly content to stay at his current club rather than push for a move away.

This could mean that Zubimendi might not be the ideal player for Arsenal, as there is no point in looking for someone who doesn’t want a transfer any time soon, but Romano seems to rate him as ideal for Arteta’s style of play, at least based on his profile and characteristics.

“We’ve had a lot of stories about Arsenal and various central outfield players recently, with big names like Douglas Luiz, Amadou Onana and Martin Zubimendi being linked with the Gunners. It seems that it will be difficult to reach a deal in January, but we will see in the summer if the situation will be different,” Romano said.

“Which of these players would be the best fit for Mikel Arteta’s team? My personal feeling is that Zubimendi would be fantastic, although Onana and Douglas have the advantage of both already knowing the Premier League. Zubimendi is a fantastic player, he can help with his vision, quality and intelligence on the ball – he is the perfect central midfielder.

“However, it has to be said that he is very happy at Real Sociedad, he is only focused on his club and in recent years he has already turned down the chance to leave because he has always wanted to stay there.”