Arsenal sold “one of Europe’s best passersby.” Now he looks like Rice and Zubi

If you ask most fans which teams have the best defensive power in the Premier League, most teams will probably say Arsenal.

Similarly, given the amount spent over the summer, Liverpool would be described by most people as having the best offense.

However, while there may be some disagreements regarding the midfield, players like Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, Ebechi Eze, Mikel Merino and Christian Norgaard could once again be on the side of Mikel Arteta.

In particular, Zubimendi and Rice have a great start to the campaign, and what’s even more impressive is that if the North Londoners hadn’t sold international ones, a Spanish-British hybrid, they could have had an even stronger midfield.

The beginning of Zubimendi’s life at Arsenal

Given that the club has been following the previous real Sociedad star, spending the best part of the year doing so by beating Real Madrid, beating Real Madrid, it’s fair to say he had the level of expectation that he would start his Arsenal career in positive fashion this season.

Luckily there were some moments when he was clearly amazed at the speed of British football, and that’s exactly what happened.

For example, the game-changing Basque star has launched all six Premier League games so far, with the Champions League colliding with Athletic Bilbao.

In these games, he scored two goals. Both games against Nottingham Forest, thanks to sensational volleys and fully placed headers.

Plus, when he should have scored an assist, most recently Nick Pope only stopped making a brilliant response save and stopped Julien Timber when he played a completely dingk-out ball on Sunday at the top of Newcastle United’s defense.

According to FBREF, he is ranked in the top 7% of the Premier League midfielders this season, and he wasn’t just a threat to the target, as both were won by air duels per 90.

In short, Zubimendi came in and almost immediately became the conductor of the Arteta from Deep, splitting the opposition attack and kickstarting them for the gunners.

He’s not the only summer of making a midfield splash this season in the Premier League, but he’s been doing a great campaign for himself as a former Arsenal star compared to the Spaniards and Rice.

Former Arsenal star who is Zubimendi & Rice Hybrid

The former Arsenal star, who enjoys a positive start to this season, has gotten off to a positive start to this season, from Fulham’s Alex Iwobi to Marseille and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang.

However, although the pair is playing at the moment, unlike Granit Xhaka, it has not been compared to both Zubimendi and Rice.

Yes, Swiss International, who left the club for around £21 million in the summer of 2023 and joined Sunderland this summer, is compared to the two best players from Arteta, a former Arsenal star.

The comparison comes from FBREF, which concludes that the British are the third-most similar midfielder to the Black Cats Ace in the Premier League this season, while the Spaniards are the eighth-most similar.

To better understand how this conclusion was reached, we can see the underlying numbers in which the former gunner star is closely ranked with two international stars.

As for the former West Ham United captain, these metrics include non-comprehensive expected goals, expected assists, switch via the ball, and shot-making actions.

These figures and eye tests reveal that, like the British, the former Bayer Leverkusen ace still has a left-footed cane, and, as Sky Sports’ Dougie Crichley puts it, “still one of Europe’s best passersby.”

Then, when it comes to San Sebastian-born aces, similarities tend to fall on the more defensive aspects of things, an important area where tackles win around 90 and pairs rank closely.

Ultimately, Arsenal has a strong case, with the league’s best midfield, mainly thanks to Rice and Zubimendi.

But think about how better their team will be if they keep holding Xhaka.