Real Madrid have spent this entire summer looking for a midfielder who can take charge of the middle of the pitch, and one name kept resurfacing without ever quite becoming a negotiation. On Friday the man who employs him removed it from the table. Asked whether Martín Zubimendi could leave Arsenal, Mikel Arteta answered with no room in it at all — and with the window open only until 31 August and José Mourinho's squad list already full, that is a rather more significant “no” than the usual pre-season brush-off.
What you'll learn in this piece:
- Exactly what Arteta said about Zubimendi, and why Real Madrid never truly pushed
- Why Madrid's full first-team squad list, not Arsenal's stance, is the real obstacle
- The loan route Bernabéu Digital report the club would consider before deadline day
- The other names in play — Nico González, Sergio Martínez, Adam Wharton
- What the club's reported “phase D” means for the final days of the market
Background: a busy summer that never solved the middle of the pitch
By any normal measure this has been an active window. Madrid Universal count as many as six signings, and the names are serious ones: Marc Cucurella and Denzel Dumfries at full-back, Ibrahima Konaté in central defence, Yan Diomande and Carlos Espí in attack, and Bernardo Silva arriving on a free transfer from Manchester City. Endrick came back from his loan spell. For a club that finished 2025-26 without a trophy for the first time since 2020-21, it is a rebuild with visible shape to it.
What it has not produced is a specialist to sit at the base of the midfield. Rodri was the summer's marquee target and ended up at Barcelona; Mourinho has since said the club did not want him once he hesitated over the move. Aurélien Tchouaméni, the natural in-house answer, returned from international duty on an individual programme, played no minutes in pre-season and, by Mourinho's own account this week, is not physically ready for Saturday's league opener.
Into that gap stepped Zubimendi, a Spain international whose profile — controlling possession, organising build-up, holding the base of a midfield — reads like a specification written in Valdebebas. Madrid Universal are blunt that the interest never became a pursuit. The club, they report, discussed the option internally for weeks before concluding he was not the right investment now.
What Arteta said about Zubimendi — and what it closes
Arteta's answer left no gap
Asked about the possibility of the midfielder leaving, Arteta did not hedge. In comments quoted by Fabrizio Romano and carried by Madrid Universal, the Arsenal manager said: “No, he's a really important player.”
Without a doubt, he was one of the best players for Arsenal last season. Without him, we would never have got into the position that we got into in the last few weeks.
Mikel Arteta on Martín Zubimendi, via Fabrizio Romano and Madrid Universal
That is not the language of a manager preparing his supporters for a sale. Madrid Universal make the reasonable inference: when a coach publicly credits a midfielder with being among his best players and suggests the season turned on him, the selling club is unlikely to open the door voluntarily. Arsenal have added Bruno Guimarães this summer, per the same report, and Arteta still frames Zubimendi as a foundation rather than a rotation option.
Why Madrid never pushed
The honest reading is that Madrid's hesitation came first. Compared with the decisiveness Los Blancos showed on Cucurella, Konaté and Diomande, the Zubimendi file moved slowly — weeks of internal debate rather than an approach. Bernabéu Digital frame the reason in plain financial terms: an operation like Zubimendi's would demand considerable investment, which is precisely what the club does not want to commit in the last week of a window in which it has already spent heavily.
Interest, in other words, only matters when both clubs want the same thing. Here neither side did, and Arteta simply said so out loud. It is worth noting what has not been reported: there is no suggestion in any of these accounts of a bid, an agreement in principle, or a player request to leave.
The real obstacle is Madrid's own squad list
Even a willing Arsenal would not have solved the structural problem. According to Javi Herráez of Cadena SER, reported by Madrid Universal, Real Madrid already have all 25 first-team places occupied, with Thiago Pitarch also working around the senior group while holding a reserve-team registration. There is no space for an incoming player unless somebody currently in the squad leaves.
That is where the window has stalled. Herráez cites Eduardo Camavinga as the illustration: Madrid might listen to offers, but the player has no intention of moving. Endrick has made clear he is staying. Rodrygo's long-term injury removes another possible route out. Raúl Asencio remains on the exit ramp without any certainty that he will actually go.
The counter-argument: why the last ten days can still move
Set against all that, there is a reason not to declare the window finished. Bernabéu Digital report that the club has entered what it internally calls its “phase D” — the decisive days, this weekend and the start of next week, in which both the outgoings operation and any last additions are meant to be resolved. Jorge Mendes is described as working on a solution for Asencio; freeing a place and generating income would let the club make one final push.
There is also a cheaper route. Bernabéu Digital say a loan, or a loan with an option to buy, is not the preferred solution but has not been ruled out — a way of strengthening Mourinho's options without a major outlay now. Nico González, of Manchester City, has begun to appear in that conversation, though for the moment he should be understood as one possibility among several rather than a deal in motion. The club's stated position, per the same reports, is that it will not sign somebody simply to fill a shirt.
The obstacle that outlasts all of this is wages. Herráez's argument, as relayed by Madrid Universal, is that Madrid salaries are self-reinforcing: play well and you are renewed on better terms, struggle and no buying club wants both the fee and the wage. It is a cycle that makes the “at least one out before anyone comes in” rule far harder to satisfy than it sounds.
Future outlook: the names that are actually live
Sergio Martínez. Bernabéu Digital reported that Friday would be a key day in the pursuit of the 19-year-old from Racing Santander, with the sticking point not the transfer itself but what to do with him this season: an immediate move with a Castilla registration and proximity to Mourinho's squad, or a further season in Santander where minutes are guaranteed. The player, they say, is open to both.
Adam Wharton. Effectively closed. Bernabéu Digital, citing The Athletic, report that Manchester City asked Crystal Palace directly and were told the England international is not available this summer. Selhurst Park do not intend to negotiate in this window, whoever is asking.
Defence, not just midfield. Bernabéu Digital name Alessandro Bastoni alongside Zubimendi as the two operations that would represent a final step up, and Madrid Universal report Mourinho would still like both a midfielder and a centre-back if sales happen. Both are conditional on the same thing: somebody leaving first.
Conclusion: a squad that is closed until it isn't
Arteta's answer is useful precisely because it is final. Zubimendi is not leaving Arsenal this summer, which means Real Madrid's midfield question gets answered internally — by Bernardo Silva, by Federico Valverde, by Eduardo Camavinga, and by a fit Tchouaméni once he has the training weeks Mourinho says he needs — or by an opportunity nobody has named yet in the last days of August.
Mourinho, for his part, has a more immediate concern: a LaLiga opener at Espanyol on Saturday night, 21:30 Spanish time, with a squad he has already described as short. The market can wait until Sunday. Keep it here for every twist before the window shuts on 31 August.
