LONDON: Arsenal on Sunday announced the signing of midfielder Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad after they reportedly triggered his £51 million ($70 million) release clause.

Euro 2024 winner Zubimendi had previously been a target for Liverpool and was also linked with Real Madrid.

“This is a huge moment in my career,” said the defensive midfielder, who is understood to have put pen to paper on a five-year deal.

“It’s the move I was looking for and one I wanted to make. As soon as you set foot here, you realize how big this club and this team are.

“I set my sights on Arsenal because their style of play is a good fit for me. They have shown their potential recently and the best is yet to come.”

The BBC reported the deal is worth almost £60 million, with Arsenal opting to pay more than the release clause in order to spread the cost of the fee.

Zubimendi, 26, made 236 appearances in all competitions for Sociedad after graduating from the club’s academy and has played 19 times for Spain.

He will reinforce manager Mikel Arteta’s midfield options after Thomas Partey’s contract expired and Jorginho left the club.

Zubimendi’s arrival paves the way for Arsenal’s record-signing Declan Rice to play a more attacking midfield role alongside captain Martin Odegaard.

“Martin is a player who will bring a huge amount of quality and football intelligence to our team,” said Arteta.

“He will fit in really well and he has all the attributes to be a key player for us.”

Zubimendi is Arsenal’s second signing of the summer transfer window after goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga joined from Chelsea as they seek to improve on three consecutive second-placed Premier League finishes.

The Gunners are also expected to complete the signing of midfielder Christian Norgaard from Brentford.

Attention will now turn to the forward line as Arsenal try to see off Liverpool and Manchester City and claim a first league title since 2003/04.

Arteta’s men had to cope without a natural striker for much of last season due to long-term injuries to Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus.

RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko and Sporting Lisbon striker Viktor Gyokeres are reportedly the two leading candidates to fill the need for a new number nine.

Birmingham, United Kingdom: India captain Shubman Gill continued to give fresh meaning to the phrase “leading from the front” with a stunning innings of 161 in the ongoing second Test against England at Edgbaston on Saturday.

The 25-year-old’s second century of the match took his overall tally for the game to 430 runs, a figure bettered by India great Sachin Tendulkar, Test cricket’s all-time leading run-scorer, just three times in a series, let alone a match, during his celebrated career.

Following his commanding 269 in the first innings, Gill also became the first batsman in 148 years of Test history to make score of 250 and 150 in the same match.

All that came after Gill’s 147 in his first Test as captain, India’s five-wicket loss in last week’s series opener at Headingley.

But beyond the statistics, it is the way Gill has played that has impressed seasoned observers.
In the first innings at Edgbaston, he batted in near flawless-fashion for eight-and-a-half hours, with his offside driving standing comparison with cricket’s most elegant batsmen.

But in the second innings, with quick runs required to set up a declaration, Gill made 161 off just 162 balls, including 13 fours and eight sixes.

India are now well-placed given England, with seven wickets standing, still need a mammoth 536 more runs on Sunday’s final day to achieve what would be a Test record fourth-innings victory chase of 608.

“Gill is outrageous,” England fast-bowling great Stuart Broad, well used to working out world-class batsmen during a career that yielded 604 Test wickets, told Sky Sports after Saturday’s close.

“As a bowler, I’d be looking for technical things so I could expose him, but he’s not shown any obvious signs of dismissal and he’s played stylishly. He’s played with huge responsibility, under big pressure.

“It’s breathtaking... He deserves all the applause he will get.”

Gill was drafted into India’s under-19 side as for their victorious 2018 World Cup campaign, shortly after scoring a century for Punjab in just his second first-class Ranji Trophy match.

He made his one-day international debut in 2019, but it was in his first Test series, in Australia in 2020/21, that he came to the fore, notably with a fluent 91 in India’s thrilling series-clinching win at the Gabba.

His first Test hundred came a year later, in Chattogram. A month later, aged 23, he became the youngest to make an ODI double-century, smashing 208 off 149 balls against New Zealand.

Born in Fazilka, near the border with Pakistan, before moving to Mohali aged eight to be nearer better cricket facilities, the nickname ‘Prince’ has clung to Gill to the extent of sometimes appearing on his bat-stickers.

An opener and then a number three, Gill now occupies the number four position held by childhood hero Virat Kohli, with his 269 surpassing Kohli’s unbeaten 254 against South Africa in Pune in 2019 as the highest score by an India Test captain.

As a boy, Gill wanted to know what Kohli’s scores and achievements were when he was his age.

And when Kohli first saw Gill in the nets in New Zealand in 2019/20, he said he didn’t even have 10 percent of the talent when he was Gill’s age.

Yet last year, when England went 1-0 up in Hyderabad, a second-innings duck saw Gill’s Test average fall below 30 for the first time.

But then India coach Rahul Dravid, himself an outstanding batsman, resisted the temptation to drop Gill, who then made a second-innings century in a 106-run win in Visakhapatnam and another, in Dharamshala, during a series India won 4-1.

Gill succeeded Rohit Sharma as India captain after the latter announced his retirement from Test cricket in May, with ‘King’ Kohli calling time on his Test career just a few days later.

A few months ago, when asked about potential leaders, Rohit said “the boys aren’t ready yet.”

But Gill, who started this series with a modest Test average of under 36, looks as if he might be now.