I Joined Arsenal Because I Wouldn’t Have To Change My Profile Much – Zubimendi

Arsenal midfielder Martin Zubimendi has said that Mikel Arteta signed him to push the club towards the EPL title. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

According to him, even if he has had to adapt to playing faster and more direct, he joined Arsenal because he wouldn’t have to change his profile much to suit the club’s style of play.

Zubimendi added that changing his profile at a new club would have been a mistake he’d regret throughout his career.

His words, “The mentality is: be a man. Go into clashes hard. It’s more direct. In Spain when you get the ball, it’s more about keeping it; (in England), whenever you win it, it’s straight on to the attack. Transitions are unavoidable, it’s harder to control. But (handling) that is not about ability as such, it’s getting your mind used to it. That’s different to La Liga but the thing that has most struck me is the dead ball, how important it is. I’m seeing loads of goals from that and they’re often what opens up the game. We have a set-play coach and we work on that practically daily.

But I choose a team on the basis of my qualities too: what they wanted from me. I have to adapt my play a bit in terms of playing faster, more direct. I’m a pivot, but in this structure I have the chance to take that step forward and Arteta insists a lot that I can play that final pass and make the difference. But I think my profile doesn’t change much. If they have signed me it is because they like what I do. They know this is what I can contribute to the team. If I changed my profile it would be an error.”

WOW.

Arsenal Football Club is an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. Arsenal compete in the Premier League, the top flight of English football.

The club has won 13 league titles (including one unbeaten title), a record 14 FA Cups, two League Cups, 17 FA Community Shields, the Football League Centenary Trophy, one European Cup Winners’ Cup and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In terms of trophies won, it is the third-most successful club in English football.

After conducting an overhaul in the club’s operating model to coincide with Wenger’s departure, Spaniard Unai Emery was named as the club’s new head coach on 23 May 2018. He became the club’s first ever ‘head coach’ and second manager from outside the United Kingdom.

In Emery’s first season, Arsenal finished fifth in the Premier League and as runner-up in the Europa League. On 29 November 2019, Emery was dismissed as manager and former player and assistant first team coach Freddie Ljungberg was appointed as interim head coach. On 20 December 2019, Arsenal appointed former club captain Mikel Arteta as the new head coach. Arsenal finished the league season in eighth, their lowest finish since 1994–95, but beat Chelsea 2–1 to earn a record-extending 14th FA Cup win. After the season. Arteta’s title was changed from head coach to manager.