Despite rumours that Real Madrid were looking to hijack the move, Arsenal remain the favourites to sign Real Sociedad Martin Zubímendi in the summer.
The Gunners have been working on the deal for some time, and have indicated to Sociedad that they are willing to meet his release clause, and may, indeed, be prepared to pay a little extra in order to structure the payments over several years.
Real Madrid are not prepared to match those terms, and their preferred modus operandi, as illustrated with the agreement to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool, is to wait until players have run down their contracts before signing them. And they are also reported to have an interest in signing Vitinha from PSG.
However, Arsenal fans should not assume that the player will be lining-up in an Arsenal shirt next season until he has put pen to paper. Liverpool thought they had signed him last summer, only for him to back out at the last minute.
