Real Madrid spent the second week of August insisting their business was finished. Six signings in, a squad list full, a manager who had stopped asking. Then, in the space of a single Monday, the Zubimendi transfer came back from the dead — and was half-buried again before the day was out. TEAMtalk reported renewed interest and José Mourinho’s approval; Josep Pedrerol went on air to say one more midfielder could still arrive; and then sources close to Mourinho briefed that he has asked for nothing of the sort. Welcome to the last fortnight of a transfer window.
Here is what this piece works through:
- What the newest reports actually claim about Real Madrid’s renewed move for Martín Zubimendi
- Why Arsenal’s signing of Bruno Guimarães changed the picture in north London
- The two numbers being briefed — €90m and €65m — and why they do not match
- The squad-list problem: why nobody arrives at the Bernabéu until somebody leaves
- The direct denial from Mourinho’s circle, and how to read it
- What realistically happens between now and the 31 August deadline
Background: how the Zubimendi transfer story got here
This is the third act of the same play. Zubimendi first surfaced at the start of the month, when Madrid’s pursuit of Rodri collapsed and the club needed a name for the holding role Mourinho had been asking about since June. Rodri, as we now know, ended up at Barcelona, and the reasons that deal died at the Bernabéu were as much about the fee as the footballer.
Zubimendi then returned on 14 August, when Chelsea joined the race and a €90m valuation was attached. Hours later MARCA flattened the whole thing, reporting that the links between Los Blancos and the Arsenal midfielder had “no basis” — a denial we covered when Real Madrid effectively froze their market. The club’s position had already been stated publicly: the incoming business was done and the squad was complete.
Three days on, that position is being tested again. The trigger is not anything Madrid have done. It is what Arsenal have.
The core of it: what is actually being reported
TEAMtalk: Madrid back in, Mourinho on board
According to TEAMtalk, relayed by Bernabéu Digital, Real Madrid have re-opened their interest in Zubimendi and see a guaranteed midfield controller as the one job still outstanding in an otherwise strong summer. The same report says Mourinho gave his blessing and would like the former Real Sociedad man back in LaLiga in a white shirt, that Zubimendi himself would be delighted by the move, and that Arsenal are waiting for a suitable offer rather than forcing him out.
Later on Monday evening, Bernabéu Digital went further, reporting that Madrid are prepared to make an attempt in the closing stretch of the window. The club, that report says, must first establish the conditions required to open a negotiation at all — which is a long way from an offer being on a desk in north London.
Why Arsenal might now listen
The variable that changed is Bruno Guimarães. Arsenal’s signing of another high-profile central midfielder has, per both reports, muddied Zubimendi’s role in Mikel Arteta’s plans. He joined from Real Sociedad last summer expecting to be a pillar of the project; a year on, the picture in front of him is more crowded than he bargained for. Madrid Universal, summarising the English reporting, notes that Arsenal are not actively looking to sell — but would consider an appropriate proposal rather than treating him as untouchable. That is the crack Madrid are reportedly peering through.
€90m or €65m? The number keeps moving
Follow the fee and the story gets shakier. On 14 August, the reported asking price was €90 million. Bernabéu Digital’s Monday piece says Arsenal have not yet set an exit price at all, but estimates a minimum of around €65 million. A €25m swing inside 72 hours is the signature of a story being built out of soundings rather than negotiations. Neither figure has been confirmed by either club, and Madridistas would be wise to treat both as ballpark rather than gospel.
Pedrerol: one more signing, and it would be a midfielder
The most concrete on-the-record line of the day came from Josep Pedrerol on Vamos A Ver. “Another signing could still come to Real Madrid,” he said. “Mourinho has been considering it and it could happen. It would be a midfielder.” Pedrerol did not name Zubimendi. Bernabéu Digital, reporting his comments alongside the TEAMtalk story, suggests the two may describe the same operation — which is inference, not confirmation, and worth labelling as such.
The challenges: a denial, a full squad list and a fortnight
Against all of that sits a flat contradiction. As Madrid Universal report, citing Mario Penalver, sources close to Mourinho deny that the manager is pushing for Zubimendi. That does not kill the idea — there is a real distinction between a sporting department monitoring a player and a head coach demanding one — but it does undercut the most quotable element of the TEAMtalk version, which is precisely the Mourinho endorsement.
Then there is arithmetic. Madrid’s squad is packed: six arrivals in Marc Cucurella, Ibrahima Konaté, Bernardo Silva, Denzel Dumfries, Carlos Espí and Yan Diomande, on top of Endrick’s return from loan. As Madrid Universal note, any further addition depends heavily on departures; without creating space the club simply cannot accommodate another body. A midfielder does not walk through the door at Valdebebas unless somebody walks out first, and the exits are all still unresolved. Raúl Asencio has been linked with a move for most of the summer — Bernabéu Digital, citing Topskills Sports Group, report interest from Liverpool, with no formal offer made and a six-week injury complicating matters — while Endrick is the subject of a reported €65m approach from Anfield. Neither is close to done.
Finally, timing. Fourteen days remain, and Madrid do not have the luxury of a slow build: Mourinho’s first competitive match of his second spell is away at Espanyol on Saturday. Signing a €65m-plus midfielder mid-season-start, having sold nobody, is not a small piece of administration.
Future outlook: what to expect before 31 August
The likeliest outcome, on the evidence, is still no signing. Madrid have spent this summer declining to be bounced into a fee they think is wrong — that is the whole lesson of the Rodri episode — and the internal answer has already been bought. Bernardo Silva was recruited to give Mourinho an experienced brain in the pivot, and he is expected to start the LaLiga opener. Arda Güler’s pre-season has been encouraging. Eduardo Camavinga and Aurélien Tchouaméni remain, and Federico Valverde can play anywhere he is asked to.
The scenario in which this changes is narrow but real, and it runs in one order: a departure first — Asencio, Endrick or another fringe player — then a squad place, then a price Arsenal will accept, then a deal. Each step depends on the one before it. If Madrid get through the Espanyol game with all four steps still unstarted, the Zubimendi transfer will most likely finish where it began: a name on a list, revisited next summer when he is a year older, a year cheaper and a year further from Arteta’s first XI.
One more prediction worth making: expect the temperature of this story to rise, not fall, over the next fortnight, and expect the number attached to it to keep moving. Deadline-day reporting rewards volume over precision, and a Spain international at a club that has just signed a rival for his position is the most obvious story in Europe for the next two weeks.
The verdict from a Madridista point of view
Zubimendi would improve this Real Madrid. That is not really in dispute — he is a clean, unhurried controller of exactly the type the side has missed, and he would sit neatly alongside Bernardo Silva in the games where Mourinho wants the ball kept rather than chased. What is in dispute is whether the club wants him enough to pay north of €65m in the final fortnight of a window, having already spent heavily and having repeatedly said the work is finished. Right now the honest answer is that nobody outside Valdebebas knows, and one of the two versions doing the rounds on Monday is wrong.
For more on how Mourinho is building this squad, read our look at the double sessions that have reshaped the Madrid week, and keep an eye on ReadRealMadrid for every twist before the window shuts on 31 August.
