Zubimendi sure to be a success in the Premier League, says former club-mate
Spain international Martin Zubimendi has been backed to succeed at Arsenal by one of his former Real Sociedad club-mates.
Martin Zubimendi will be a hit in the Premier League, so says the midfielder's former team-mate Roberto Lopez.
Zubimendi's long-proposed transfer to Arsenal was finally confirmed on Sunday.
Arsenal have reportedly paid Real Sociedad close to £60m (€69.5m) for the Spain international, who rejected the chance to join Liverpool last year.
Lopez played alongside Zubimendi at La Real, and feels Zubimendi is ideally suited to the Premier League.
He told Stats Perform: "Martin can achieve whatever he wants. He works really hard day in and day out.
"He's super humble and that will take him wherever he wants to go.
"Zubimendi is a really down-to-earth guy. No ego at all, very humble, just a regular guy from Gros [a neighbourhood in San Sebastian] who barely left the area.
"It would take us an hour just to convince him to come out. You could already see he had something special."
Zubimendi graduated from La Real's youth system before spending six years in their first-team squad, making 236 appearances across all competitions.
In 36 league appearances last season, Zubimendi attempted 1,752 passes and completed 1,479, with 321 of his successful passes ending in the final third.
Those first two figures were team-highs for La Real as they finished 11th in LaLiga.
As well as signing Zubimendi, Arsenal have reportedly agreed personal terms with attackers Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres, though the Gunners are yet to strike deals with either Chelsea or Sporting CP.
