Zubimendi transfer row erupts over ‘missed payment’

Arsenal midfielder Martin Zubimendi finds himself at the heart of a transfer controversy relating to an alleged missed payment.

Zubimendi completed a €70 million switch from Real Sociedad to the Emirates Stadium in the summer and has hit the ground running with Mikel Arteta’s side, slotting into a midfield that has propelled the Gunners to the top of the Premier League standings.

Away from the park, the Spain star finds himself embroiled in a row between La Real and his youth side, Antiguoko.

The latter have gone to court, alleging that they are still owed €1m from the move that took the 26-year-old to Arsenal last summer.

Roberto Montiel, technical Director of Antiguoko, said in quotes relayed by The Sun: “Currently, the relationship with Real Sociedad is very bad on their part.

“We had an agreement with Real Sociedad until 2020. Since then, we have an agreement with Athletic Bilbao.

“When Zubi signed for Real Sociedad, it was agreed that, in the event of a transfer, we would receive 5 per cent up to one million euros in return.

“With this behaviour, we decided not to renew the agreement with them because we felt mistreated by them.”

‘Real Sociedad obsessed with crushing us’

The Antiguoko chief claimed that Real Sociedad are doing their best to make them uncompetitive.

He added: “They are obsessed with crushing us at all levels. They want us to be more and more inferior.

“The Provincial Council of Guipuzcoa has put in place a law that is subject to Real Sociedad of ‘territoriality’.

“This means that a boy or girl from a town bordering 5 kilometres from San Sebastian up to under-14 category cannot sign for Antiguoko.

“In other words, any boy or girl within the entire periphery of San Sebastian and its surroundings cannot sign with us, even though the kids’ parents wanted them to join us

“This would be translated as explaining that a child from a neighbourhood on the outskirts of London cannot sign for any club in London up to under-14 category. Madness!

“Real Sociedad collected the transfer fee from the sale of Martin Zubimendi from Arsenal and has not paid us the five per cent that corresponds to us according to the agreement.

“Real Sociedad has not said anything, and we have made the request in court. And we will have an administrative dispute to reach an agreement.

“They will maintain their position of not paying us. That money is very important to us because we invest it in our academy.”

Zubimendi and Arsenal are not implicated in any way in this drama, with the Spaniard set to feature for the Gunners in their Premier League clash with Burnley on Saturday.

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