Manchester United have added Martin Zubimendi to their list of midfield candidates, The Pitch Prospect has learned.
Spanish Euro 2024 winner Zubimendi has a £50 million release clause in his contract with Real Sociedad.
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The 25-year-old is one of several targets for the Red Devils, who are looking to strengthen their midfield ahead of the new season.
United are looking to add a defensive midfielder to their squad after holding talks with Paris Saint-Germain’s Manuel Ugarte.
The Uruguayan is keen to move to Old Trafford after falling out of favour with PSG head coach Luis Enrique, but United appear to be keeping their options open.
A return of last season’s loan player Sofyan Amrabat is not completely ruled out, but United are reluctant to meet the terms of a £21.4 million buy-out clause.
Zubimendi played the second half of the 2024 European Championship final against England, replacing the injured Rodri at half-time.
The Spaniard has been compared to former Liverpool and Real Madrid star Xabi Alonso, who also began his glittering career at Real Sociedad.
Alonso has spoken positively about Zubimendi on several occasions, even claiming he is the type of player any manager would like to have after working with him as coach of Real Sociedad’s B team.
“Martín is a player that all coaches want,” said Alonso. “He is generous, he always thinks more about his teammates than himself. He has the ability to create plays, make the players around him better, always offer solutions and improve the play.”
“He knows what the next step is before he gets the ball. He has the ability to organize the axis. I loved working with him.”
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Zubimendi has thoroughly enjoyed the praise from Bayer Leverkusen’s head coach and admits that he never tires of receiving praise from his football hero.
“He is an idol, a role model, so I am happy that he says nice things about me,” Zubimendi told The Guardian in 2022.
“I get asked about him so much that he’ll get bored of listening to me talk about him. He’ll get tired of me talking about how good he is,” he added.
“Because of the pandemic, I didn’t even spend a full season with him, but they were good months,” says Zubimendi. “When he arrived, I started playing more; I got a number of games with Xabi. I could feel the affection he had for me, which may be because I’m in the same position. He made it a point to show me things and teach me.
“With him I learned to recognize and differentiate [types of] Apply pressure and overcome it. Before that, I played more or less naturally. With him, I really started to understand concepts of ball play and build-up play. He was very insistent on analysis. We went through it and set up bouncy castles where the opposition would be.”