Where does Martín Zubimendi rank among this season's best deep midfielders?

And if Arsenal sign one more, who do the numbers like?

Doing these ranking pieces in positions where Arsenal (seemingly) already have a horse headed into the barn, but haven’t officially announced that horse’s name, is always an interesting process.

At this point, we know it’s pretty likely that Spanish National Team/Real Sociedad number six Martín Zubimendi will be joining Arsenal this summer. It’s also likely he’s coming in to be the primary starter at the number six role, playing at the base of the midfield.

That’s welcome news to me, having watched a good deal of him and enjoyed his game. But it ain’t over ‘til it’s over, right? Another complicating factor is Thomas Partey’s extension, which some days sounds good as done and on others sounds a little complicated. So is there a chance Arsenal might need another defensively-minded midfielder on top of Zubi?

I was never a Boy Scout but I do believe in being prepared, so let’s go through this list exercise and examine some options no matter the case.

Below, you’ll see somewhere around 40 names in all worth consideration one some level, with some information following each. I’d like to point out that this list is ordered using statistics only and you should watch guys play (not on YouTube) before forming a final opinion. Please note that I’ve also generated these rankings based on the past two seasons of play for each player. This list also does not necessarily represent my own personal rankings for whom Arsenal should pursue.

Please also note that my charts are *not* adjusted for league strength, but the final scores leading to rankings are. So that means some better-looking charts will be below worse-looking ones. One possible reason for that is league strength.

Another possible reason - as I said this ranking is based on the past two years of play. I’m only going to chart what they’ve done this season, but scores include both the 2024-2025 and the 2023-2024 seasons.

As I look to continuously refine my methods, I’ve also adjusted these stats to a per-touch basis. Time will tell if I like this approach or hate it!

In terms of how one qualifies for this list, I started with a minimum of 450 league minutes played this season. Players who have been more available this season scored better. And while I didn’t utilize a hard and fast age rule here, the idea is to try and match the age profile of the squad to the extent possible. We’ll discuss case by case below.

Ooh - one more thing. As I post my next couple of pieces on midfielders, please note that there is a good deal of subjectivity at play in determining whether a guy is a 6, a 10 or more of a box-to-box. You may not agree with my take there, and that’s ok! I did my best and it’s not always crystal clear.

Otherwise, I think that’s it. Should we talk about some guys?