Less than a year ago, Arne Slot argued that there was no longer any point in talking about Martin Zubimendi’s decision to turn down Liverpool. "We’ve moved on," the Dutchman insisted in an interview with The Times.
It would certainly be hard to question the veracity of that particular claim. The Reds romped to a record-equalling 20th English title thanks in no small part to Ryan Gravenberch, Slot’s surprising solution to Liverpool’s defensive midfield problem.
However, one can be sure that Zubimendi’s name will come up before, during and after Sunday’s eagerly-awaited Premier League showdown with Arsenal, the team that the Spain international chose to join less than a year after his 11th-hour U-turn left Liverpool in a state of shock…
Less than a year ago, Arne Slot argued that there was no longer any point in talking about Martin Zubimendi’s decision to turn down Liverpool. “We’ve moved on,” the Dutchman insisted in an interview with The Times.
It would certainly be hard to question the veracity of that particular claim. The Reds romped to a record-equalling 20th English title thanks in no small part to Ryan Gravenberch, Slot’s surprising solution to Liverpool’s defensive midfield problem.
However, one can be sure that Zubimendi’s name will come up before, during and after Sunday’s eagerly-awaited Premier League showdown with Arsenal, the team that the Spain international chose to join less than a year after his 11th-hour U-turn left Liverpool in a state of shock…
Liverpool’s long-running search for a specialist No.6 appeared to be finally over. Certainly, as far as sporting director Richard Hughes was concerned, the deal was done. Zubimendi had ‘unequivocally’ agreed to move to Merseyside and all the Reds needed to do was pay the £51 million ($69m) buy-out clause in the Spain international’s contract with Real Sociedad.
Then, everything changed. Over the course of a single weekend, La Real managed to convince Zubimendi to stay at Anoeta, after reminding him of just how much playing for his hometown club meant to the proud Basque. According to reports in Spain, manager Imanol Alguacil put together a presentation in which he underlined how disappointed the fans would be if Zubimendi reneged on his post-Euro 2024 pledge to stay in San Sebastian, while the coach also apparently brought up the local cuisine and the player’s love of hiking up the nearby Mount Ulia.
Shortly after confirming his decision to pull out of the proposed transfer to Liverpool, Zubimendi told Marca: “A lot of what I am is part of La Real. It is my life.” Six months later, though, Zubimendi changed his mind again.
It was first claimed in January of this year that Zubimendi had agreed to join Arsenal at the end of the 2024-25 season and, despite rumours of further twists and turns, the deal was officially announced on July 6. Unsurprisingly, when Zubmendi first spoke to the press on the Gunners’ pre-season tour of Singapore, everyone wanted to know if he had any regrets over rejecting Liverpool.
“It wasn’t an easy time for me because I wanted to stay at Real, but when offers come in, you start thinking about your options,” Zubimendi explained. “The first question I had to answer was whether I wanted to leave Real, and it wasn’t the right time. I felt that Real offered me more opportunities and that I still had a lot to learn, so staying at Real was the best decision for me.”
Zubimendi also insisted that Mikel Arteta had played a pivotal role in his decision to belatedly leave Sociedad.
“I don’t know what he saw in me,” the 26-year-old said of a manager that had also tried to sign him in 2024, “but I saw him as one of the top coaches in Europe. At the end of the day, I wanted a quality coach when I left Real Sociedad. I think I’ve found him.”
Of course, he would have found a quality coach at Anfield too.
The Zubimendi snub put Hughes in a very awkward position – particularly as the former Bournemouth director had yet to sign a single player for his new club. However, it was also a major issue for Slot, even if he never publicly exhibited any signs of concern.
“I said many times already our squad is really strong so it is not easy to find players to strengthen,” he told reporters last summer. “Zubimendi was one, but he chose not to come here, so we go forward with the players we have. We’re in a good place and Richard is trying to improve the squad in the background. Zubimendi didn’t want to come and Richard tried everything – but we have a positive team already.”
What he didn’t have, though, was the kind of progressive defensive midfielder he wanted (Wataru Endo didn’t fit the bill), and Liverpool’s lack of a Plan B – which unsurprisingly riled a lot of Reds – meant that he would have to look in-house to find a Zubimendi alternative. Consequently, Slot asked Gravenberch to return to pre-season training slightly earlier than scheduled to discuss a possible change of role.
“When I first spoke with the coach, he said to me: ‘I see you as a No.8 like last season, but I want to try you as a No.6 as well,'” Gravenberch told his club’s media channel.\”I said to him: ‘Of course, we can do it!’ And the rest is history.”
Indeed, Slot first experimented with Gravenberch as a six in the friendly win over Manchester United and “immediately liked it because Ryan was so comfortable on the ball”. Consequently, the Liverpool boss decided to start the season with Gravenberch protecting his back four and, after an encouraging display in the opening-weekend win away to Ipswich Town, the Netherlands international turned in a wonderfully dynamic display against Manchester United as the Reds routed their rivals 3-0 at Old Trafford.
In a matter of weeks, a player who had been in and out of Jurgen Klopp’s starting line-up had suddenly become utterly integral to Slot’s side. Gravenberch even admitted that he was surprised by not only how well he took to his new position, but how much he enjoyed it.
“To be honest, as an eight, you are more attacking and not a lot of defending,” he said. “Back in the days when I played with Ajax in the youth [team], I didn’t like to defend! I didn’t like that much at all. But now when you take the ball from another player, it’s like: ‘Yes, I have it!’ I want to take the next one and the next one again.”
Slot was just as enthused by the way in which Gravenberch embraced his new responsibilities.
“What impressed me most when I started working with him [was] how much he can run and then still how good he is when he arrives in the duel,” the manager explained to reporters.
Gravenberch wasn’t just key from a defensive perspective, though. As well as winning possession more times (193) in the Premier League last season than any other Liverpool player, and making more interceptions (60) than any other midfielder, Gravenberch also demonstrated a remarkable ability to break the opposition press.
As a product of the Ajax academy, his ability to pick out team-mates in between the lines didn’t come as that much of a surprise. However, the deft feints and subtle shifts of balance that enabled him to glide past players blew Slot away.
“This is a special quality Ryan has, that he can turn away from his man,” Slot told TNT Sport. “He is one of the few holding midfielders, pivots, that can create an overload with a dribble. Mostly, these players pass a lot, and Ryan is good in passing as well. But to create an overload with a dribble, you don’t see this many times from a No.6.”
Missing out on Zubimendi, thus, proved a blessing in disguise for Liverpool – and particularly Gravenberch, who went from bit-part player to the Premier League’s Young Player of the Season in less than a year.
His redeployment also had the added bonus of bringing the best out of Alexis Mac Allister, who had told Slot in pre-season that he would prefer to have a No.6 behind him rather than play the position himself. However, while the Argentine was afforded greater freedom to attack, he still effectively formed a double-pivot with Gravenberch that provided the platform on which Liverpool’s attacks were constructed.
“[Ryan and Alexis] are important to me but they’re especially important to our forwards,” Slot told TNT.\”We feel we have forwards that are really special, so the only thing we have to make sure is that these players get the ball a lot in promising positions. Therefore, you need two No.6s that can bring the ball towards them.”
In Gravenberch and Mac Allister, Liverpool have a perfect double-pivot partnership. But maybe Arsenal do too now, as the early signs are that the multi-functional Declan Rice could benefit just as much from the arrival of Zubimendi as Mac Allister did from Gravenberch’s transformation into a defensive midfielder.
So, maybe there were no real losers from Zubimendi’s decision to snub Liverpool. With Gravenberch pulling the strings, the Reds have well and truly moved on, while Arsenal are perfectly placed to kick on after adding Zubimendi to arguably the strongest squad in the league. This really could be one of those rare cases of a protracted transfer saga benefiting everyone involved…
