Martín Zubimendi has moved to calm speculation about his future, insisting he is focused on winning a place in the side rather than discussing a possible Arsenal exit. With his minutes reduced and Bruno Guimarães arriving last summer to take a prominent role, rumours have grown around the midfielder. Zubimendi, though, says there is no real basis to them.

“I haven’t wasted any energy on outside things,” Zubimendi told MARCA when quizzed about the rumors. “I’m busy enough trying to earn a place, get playing time, and fight to win this Premier League , which is looking so promising. I haven’t spent any energy on it, nor have I contacted anyone.”

He also pushed back against the way speculation has gathered pace as the winter window approaches. “To be honest, I’m sometimes surprised by the press too. I understand that the winter transfer window is approaching and rumors can surface, but I think we need to be a bit more careful with what we publish.

“Ultimately, everyone has a team they play for, and we need to respect that. I’ve also read that I might be close [to joining Atlético Madrid], but not at all.”

Asked directly whether he expects to remain with the Gunners through the end of the season, he replied: “Yes, I hope so. I’m happy there.”

The 27-year-old also reflected on the physical demands of last season, when he was heavily involved. “I don’t like to blame everything on my physical condition, but I definitely noticed it [last] year,” said the Spaniard. “It was a new year for me, with a lot of new stimuli. I played a huge number of minutes and, to be honest, I was tired. Then there were other things too, but one of them could very well have been my physical condition.”

His challenge now is getting back into Mikel Arteta’s midfield plans. Declan Rice and captain Martin Ødegaard are established starters, while Zubimendi is competing with Mikel Merino, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Guimarães for the remaining spot. Even so, he insists patience is part of the process. “I’m patient,” Zubimendi replied when asked about his waning influence. “When you’ve been playing a lot of minutes and your role changes to not playing as much, I’m able to see the positive side. I think everything passes, that just like last year the opposite happened to me and I played practically everything, this can change very quickly.”

Álex Baena has spoken openly about Martín Zubimendi, with the Atlético Madrid and Spain midfielder saying he would welcome the Arsenal man to La Liga and describing him as the “second-best defensive midfielder in the world.”

Zubimendi arrived at Arsenal to help cover the exits of Jorginho and Thomas Partey, and his first months suggested the move could shape the club’s midfield for years to come. Midway through the 2025 summer window, he was already being viewed as one of the standout signings of the market, with Arteta regularly praising his influence.

That admiration was underlined after Zubimendi scored the first brace of his senior career in a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest in September 2025. On that occasion, Arteta said: “Martín is bringing such a presence, composure and understanding of the game that makes the team flow and play better.”

Yet his standing has not remained the same. While he still finished the campaign with 57 appearances in all competitions as Arsenal won the league title, his influence faded towards the end of the season. That pattern has continued into the current campaign, where he has become more peripheral under Arteta.

The speculation has been fuelled by reports in Spain that Atlético could be interested in a winter move, while The Standard has reported that Arsenal are not actively seeking to sell him but could be open to the right offer.

Baena’s comments came after a difficult spell for Atlético, who lost back-to-back home games to Bayern Munich and Barcelona before the international break and dropped to third in La Liga. With Koke’s future also a consideration, midfield depth remains a question for the club.

Zubimendi made Luis de la Fuente’s World Cup squad but only played seven minutes, and at Arsenal he has since slipped further down the pecking order after the summer arrival of Bruno Guimarães. He has made just three Premier League starts and has been limited to 100 Premier League minutes across seven appearances.

Noni Madueke’s latest Arsenal outing offered a familiar reminder of what has made him such a striking presence this season: persistence, self-belief and an ability to keep forcing the issue even when the margins are tight.

“Being a footballer is not all highs,” Madueke once reflected. “In fact, it’s 50% lows.”

That outlook felt apt as he dealt with another setback from England manager Thomas Tuchel, who left him out of the squad for a second camp in a row. Yet the winger did not drift. Instead, he kept searching for space, repeatedly attacking Hull and refusing to ease off even when the contest threatened to settle into frustration.

His reward arrived after 72 minutes. Madueke found a small opening, let fly and forced Konstantinos Tzolakis into a save that dropped kindly for Martin Ødegaard to score the only goal of the game. Even before that decisive moment, Madueke had already shown the determination that has defined his recent rise, and he later passed up two more chances to add to the lead.

The wider context gives his contribution extra weight. Before the September international break, Madueke had played just 42 combined minutes in the Premier League and Champions League this season, despite being fit for every match. Mikel Arteta was blunt about his early level of influence, saying, “I haven’t liked too much what he was doing, and it was impacting the game”

After being left out by Tuchel, Madueke took a personal trainer on a warm weather break to refine his game. Arteta later said, “That’s Noni and that’s his mindset,” and then described him as “the best player” in training at London Colney. “He gave me no option not to select him.”

His recent run has also owed something to events around him, with chances opening up on both wings. But the way Madueke takes those moments matters just as much. He lives by what he calls a “healthy delusion”, and as he explained: “When that delusion comes in,” he once explained, “I feel like that’s when you can really reach new heights. You need it as a football player. You need it.”

That same belief, along with his “extreme faith in your ability,” carried him through the backlash around his arrival from Chelsea in the summer of 2025. Saul Isaksson-Hurst summed him up simply: “Noni is a mentality monster. He is so driven, sometimes you have to tell him to calm down. He is very aware, very astute.”