Inside Mikel Arteta’s love affair with Real Sociedad: Arsenal’s manager grew up supporting the Spanish club – and is he recreating their 2019-20 side with the addition of Martin Zubimendi?

Arsenal are the frontrunners to sign Martin Zubimendi in the summer and the transfer would mark the latest chapter in Mikel Arteta‘s lifelong love affair with Real Sociedad.

Mail Sport exclusively revealed on Tuesday that talks over a summer move are now at an advanced stage with sources indicating the deal is virtually completed.

It would be the second consecutive summer in which Arteta has brought in a player from Sociedad, with Mikel Merino having joined in a £31.6million deal back in August.

Sociedad is a club that the Spaniard holds close to his heart having been born in San Sebastian, where it is based.

He began his footballing career at Sociedad’s feeder club Antiguoko, where he became close friends with former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso.

The two often played along the beaches and gutters of the area and harbored dreams of playing together at Sociedad.

Arsenal are set to beat strong competition to land Martin Zubimendi (left) from Sociedad this summer

Arteta has already signed two former Sociedad players, Mikel Merino (left) and skipper Martin Odegaard (right)

Robert Montiel, one of Arteta’s youth team coaches recalled a demonstration of the then 12-year-old’s prodigious talent. 

He told The Telegraph in 2023: ‘We won 5-0 but everyone who was there always talks about this run from Mikel. From midfield he ran past six of their players. Just the goalkeeper to beat and he blasted it over. But that run … wow.’

Alonso did go on to fulfil that dream but Arteta departed for Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy at the age of 15.

However, he never managed to break into a first team blessed with the talents of Xavi and Andres Iniesta.

And the dream of playing for Sociedad did come true in 2004 after two impressive seasons with Rangers.

He was brought in to play alongside his old friend Alonso but the midfielder swiftly departed for Anfield that same summer.

It did not have much of a memorable homecoming for Arteta, who started just three games before joining Everton in the January window. 

The midfielder would go on to have much more success in the Premier League and it’s clear he’s kept a close eye on things at Sociedad since turning to management.

Arteta began his footballing career with Sociedad’s feeder club Antiguoko before representing the senior side during the 2004-05 season

His return to his boyhood club was short lived as he started just three games before departing the January window

Merino, Odegaard and Zubimendi made up the Sociedad midfielder during the 2019-20 campaign 

Following news of the Gunners swoop for Zubimendi, who came close to joining Premier League rivals Liverpool last summer, a social media post showing a Sociedad side from the 2019-20 campaign went viral.

The roster included a midfield base of Merino and Zubimendi, with Gunners skipper Martin Odegaard, who was on loan from Real Madrid, in the number 10 position.

Odegaard was signed by Arteta on a permanent basis in 2021 following an impressive loan spell and he has since gone on to become captain and the heartbeat of the Gunners side. 

Meanwhile, the striker for the Sociedad game in question was Alexander Isak – yet another player that the Spaniard is known to be an admirer of. 

Isak was linked with the north London club last summer and speculation over a potential move has only intensified given his stunning form and Arsenal’s problems in the final third this season. 

The 25-year-old bagged a brace in Newcastle’s 3-0 win over Wolves on Wednesday night to take his tally in the Premier League to 15 in 19 matches. Isak, who was signed in a deal worth around £60m in 2022, will be extremely hard to pry away from St James’ Park, with Mail Sport exclusively revealing last week that the Gunners do not have the funds to sanction a move for the Swede in the summer. 

He could end up becoming one that got away for the Arsenal boss but there remain yet more stars of Sociedad linked with the Emirates. The infatuation with the Basque club is not limited to its players.  

The Gunners are currently in the hunt for a new sporting director following the surprise departure of Edu in November.

Sociedad sporting director Roberto Olabe, who announced he will be leaving the club in November, is the favourite to replace Edu at Arsenal

Arsenal have been heavily linked with the signing of Alexander Isak, who is now starring for Newcastle

Sociedad sporting director Roberto Olabe is one of the names on the list of potential candidates having announced he will be leaving the Spanish club.

Mail Sport revealed that Olabe is believed to be Arteta’s preference for the position.

Olabe and Arteta already have an existing relationship. Indeed, it was Olabe who signed the current Arsenal boss as player in 2004 during his spell as Sociedad manager.

Talks are reportedly at an advanced stage, with the 57-year-old, hailed for his role in transforming the fortunes of the San Sebastian club, now the favourite for the job. 

The only question left for Arteta to answer is whether this quest to bring the band back together will see the Gunners achieve their ultimate aim of winning the Premier League and Champions League. 

A look back at how the Sociedad side of 2019-20 performed will give fans some hope. In his first full season in charge of the side, Imanol Alguacil took the club from 12th to six in LaLiga and won the Copa del Rey. 

In the seasons that have followed, despite the departures of Odegaard and then Isak in 2022, Sociedad have managed to maintain their position as European qualifiers, even reaching the Champions League last term. 

But recreating San Sebastian in north London looks a risky move. The players in question are of doubtless quality but the respective clubs are a world apart. 

Manchester City recruited several of Pep Guardiola’s former colleagues, including CEO Ferran Soriano (left) and director of football Txiki Begiristain (right) when he joined the club

Arteta will need his San Sebastian recruits to up their game at the Emirates if they are to achieve success

A similar tactic has worked wonders for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, who essentially constructed a Catalonian diaspora in the north of England to welcome him in 2016. 

Coaching staff, which included Arteta, as well as director of football Txiki Begiristain, CEO Ferran Soriano, medics and even a couple of former Barcelona players joined him at the Etihad. 

However, and with all due respect to the Manchester City that Guardiola joined, the Cityzens were and perhaps still are a far smaller club than the five-time European Cup winners. 

If Arteta wishes to create his own Spanish haven in England, he’ll need all of his recruits to up their game to meet the great expectations of one of English football’s most prestigious clubs.