One of Real Madrid's summer long transfer saga's is finally close to coming to an end and not the end Real Madrid were hoping for. Real have been linked with a move for Rodri all summer, with Jose Mourinho believing the World Cup winner is the solution to all of their midfield problems they have been having for the last two years, however Real Madrid sat on their hands for too long and have missed out on the Spaniard, with Rodri looking set to join rivals Barcelona.
Real Madrid are now scrambling to find an alternative with just weeks left in the transfer window and they better act fast if they hope to patch this painfully glaring hole. Real has been linked with every midfielder imaginable in the past and they should turn their attention to a different World Cup winner, one they know very well from La Liga, Martin Zubimendi.
Real Madrid can't repeat their Rodri mistake with Zubimendi
Los Blancos are very familiar with Zubimendi from his days at Real Sociedad and he was a top target of Xabi Alonso last summer, however the club opted not to bring him in with the Spaniard ending up signing for Arsenal last summer. Zubimendi went on to have a strong season with the London club being a key piece in their Premier League winning and Champions League runner-up campaign.
However, the Spaniard somewhat fell out of favor towards the end of the season and following the arrival of Bruno Guimaraes to Arsenal, Zubimendi is at risk of falling even further down the pecking order, which is a situation Real Madrid need to take full advantage of before the transfer window closes.
Zubimendi is exactly the kind of midfield player they need as he is the Toni Kroos profile that the midfield has desperately been missing. The Spaniard can pick out a pass from anywhere, has an incredibly high football IQ, and can control the tempo of a game for fun and slotting him in next to Fede Valverde would create a perfectly balanced midfield pivot with Zubimendi sitting deep while allowing Valverde to push more forward at times.
A move for the Spaniard would cost around the same as a move for Rodri would have cost, around €70 million, however Zubimendi is only 27-years-old, three years younger than Rodri, making him even more the perfect signing before the transfwe window closes. With all the midfield depth at Arsenal Zubimendi seems like the perfect candidate for Real Madrid to go out and sign but whether or not Real Madrid will actually make that smart decision remains unknown at this point.
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