Premier League Player of the Season? Martin Zubimendi deserves more recognition for role in Arsenal's title push

Zubimendi first announced himself to English audiences in 2024. Before finding himself embroiled in a transfer saga, he became known as the man who effortlessly replaced Rodri in Spain's Euros final win over the Three Lions. Though the Manchester City star would go on to win that year's Ballon d'Or, Rodri's case was arguably weakened by how the eventual champions of Europe didn't miss a beat with Zubimendi stepping in.

"He's a great player," Rodri said of his La Roja understudy last year. "He has the discipline and mentality that can lead him to become one of the best, if he isn't already. I spoke to him the other day and told him it was his time, that I was leaving him the keys to the team."

After winning Euro 2024, Zubimendi was courted heavily by Liverpool, who were convinced they could persuade him to leave boyhood club Real Sociedad. He was seen as the perfect metronome for the midfield that new head coach Arne Slot wanted to lean upon. But after initially indicating a willingness to a move, Zubimendi changed his mind, with some reports claiming an intervention from Arteta over a transfer one year down the line made a crucial difference.

It didn't matter for Liverpool in 2024-25 as they pipped Arsenal to the Premier League title by 10 points with a midfield base of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, though they have looked woefully off the pace in the middle of the park this term. The Gunners, meanwhile, appear more balanced than ever.

It's definitely helped Arsenal that Zubimendi has come into a situation where his midfield partner is a £105m ($144m) superstar. That said, he still has to mesh and fit within Arteta's setup, which is a tough ask for any new player given how established their core is at this point of their project.

"It's been so easy to play with him," Declan Rice said of Zubimendi this season, perhaps wary he's never had a running mate like this at club level before. "We only signed him in the summer and usually it takes a while to build a connection. But from the first moment we had together in pre-season, I could just tell that I was going to play some good football with him.

"I just really liked him as a person and as a player. As the games have gone on, our understanding of each other has been outstanding. He's such a nice guy. He is the Spain No.6 and we know what Spanish No.6s are like. They are the best at first phase build-up, turning on the ball and playing forward, playing into pockets and that is exactly what we've got with him.

"We all trust him with the ball. If there is a player on you, it is just easy to give him the ball and we all feel so confident with him. He has been so good for us - an unbelievable player."

There's such a neat duality between Zubimendi and Rice, combining new-age concepts with an old-fashioned 'one stays, one goes' policy. There is barely a weakness between them to be exploited. Both can carry the ball and are resistant to the press. Where Zubimendi has more grace and an eye for a pass, Rice has the power to take out several players and win the ball back. And now, they are crucial scoring threats for a side who can't really rely on their front three to provide goals.

In seven seasons with Real Sociedad, the most goals Zubimendi had ever scored in a season was four, which came in 2023-24. His other tallies after breaking into the first team were zero, zero, zero, three, one and two. He already has six in 34 appearances for Arsenal.

Zubimendi's latest strike came in Saturday's 3-0 win over Sunderland, cannoning a long-range strike in off the inside of the post to break the deadlock in a match that was threatening to turn nervy. This was against the grain of his other goals for the Gunners, where his expert and unexpected final-third movement or secret-weapon aerial ability proved the differential instead.

"He's contributing now to the team in a way that probably we didn't expect that much, but he really has an intuition and quality to deliver those moments in and around the box," Arteta said of Zubimendi after his effort against Sunderland.

But that's the point, isn't it? The best players, particularly midfielders of this ilk, will surprise you and add layers to their game that you weren't expecting. Rice is, ironically, another great example. During his early years in West Ham's first-team squad, he was expected to grow into a bog-standard defensive midfielder, or perhaps move further back as a more luxurious centre-half. With each passing season, he developed new skills until he was sold for a nine-figure sum to a team with ambitions of winning the lot.

When Rodri won the Ballon d'Or, meanwhile, it was off the back of a campaign in which he scored nine goals for Manchester City, eight of which came in the Premier League.

Everyone expected Arsenal's final piece to take them from contenders to champions would be whoever came in as their new striker. All of the pressure has been on Viktor Gyokeres to deliver, and while his numbers are looking a little healthier after his recent scoring spurt - 13 in 32 games as a Gunner - he still treats the ball like a bomb when he isn't aiming shots at goal.

The Swede's generally underwhelming season so far led to the clamour for Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus' respective returns from long-term injuries, but they aren't exactly prolific scorers or clinical finishers either. What's more, Bukayo Saka has lost half a step since recovering from hamstring surgery last year and Arteta's other assortment of wide forwards haven't chipped in with goals to make up for these shortfalls either.

It's been up to Zubimendi, among others, to help carry the load. It would have been easy for a No.6 to come into the club from a foreign league and lean on the usual excuse of needing time to adapt to palm off this responsibility, but he's only become emboldened and empowered by it. This is even without factoring in what Zubimendi was brought in to do in the first place.

There hasn't been much to separate Arsenal's best players this season. Gyokeres, again considered either underperforming or under-qualified, is the team's top scorer with 13 goals. He's followed by Gabriel Martinelli, a substitute for most of the campaign, on 10 and Saka on seven.

Unless someone goes on a Gareth Bale 2012-13 sort of scoring run, it's difficult to envisage whoever ends as the Gunners' leading marksman being remembered as their top performer for 2025-26. It's a mantle that's up for grabs.

Early in the season, it seemed as if set-piece magnet Gabriel Magalhaes would run away with the accolade, such was the fear Arsenal were putting into teams all over Europe. An injury in the early winter derailed this progress and opposition sides have started to nullify his impact on corners and free-kicks, though this has only freed up others to wreak havoc instead.

Only Rice, Arsenal's other headliner who will surely be in Player of the Year conversations during the coming months, has played more games than Zubimendi this term, and that's only 35 to 34. They're in the team every three days and usually play the full 90 minutes. It could turn into a straight shootout between their midfield pairing for the honour.

Player of the Year awards tend to drop the way of the best performer for the champions. In the last five years, the only player to win either the PFA or Football Writers' Association award without finishing first was Mohamed Salah in 2021-22, and that was down to his incredible individual season. There isn't really a case for anyone outside of Arsenal this year.

The Gunners' main rivals for these prizes come from their title rivals, Manchester City, where Erling Haaland still leads the Golden Boot race while Antoine Semenyo is also in the top three for goals scored. There haven't been any other standout individual campaigns worthy of prying it away from an Arsenal player, nor a case such as in 2008-09 where Ryan Giggs swept up based on his legacy after Manchester United's similar team effort saw them retain the title again.

If Arsenal pull away again in the title race, then the Player of the Year debate will be the one that comes back into focus. There isn't much of a case against why Zubimendi should win.