Arsenal fans joke Mikel Arteta is 'dreaming of Martin Zubimendi as a striker' after Spain goal

Arsenal fans have joked Mikel Arteta has found his new striker with Martin Zubimendi breaking the deadlock to send Spain ahead in the Nations League final on Sunday

Will Schofield Senior Sports Reporter

21:07, 08 Jun 2025

Martin Zubimendi scored the opener(Image: ITV)

Arsenal have joked Mikel Arteta is already eyeing using Martin Zubimendi as a striker after he broke the deadlock in the Nations League final.

Zubimendi was at the heart of the Spanish attack, as Mikel Oyarzabal flicked the ball into the middle. The Real Sociedad man latched onto the ball and drove at the Portuguese defence.

He picked his head up and found Lamine Yamal, who dinked the ball over the top - finding an onrushing Zubimendi, who turned the ball into an empty net.

"It's absolutely brilliant," Andros Townsend gushed on ITV. "The flick from Mikel Oyarzabal opens the whole play up. Brilliant from Spain.

"The flick takes Goncalo Inacio out of the game. Martin Zubimendi gets on the end of it. Spain fully deserve it!"

[Martin Zubimendi ]

Martin Zubimendi has been heavily linked to Arsenal(Image: ITV)

Zubimendi has been linked with a move to Arsenal this summer, after being traced by numerous Premier League clubs over the past 12 months.

Reports suggest that Arteta is keen on the midfielder to replace the outgoing Jorginho - who is set to head to Brazil with Flamengo.

However, Arsenal fans have joked that Arteta will use him in a different way, after his Nations League strike, akin to how he deployed Mikel Merino in the final months of the season.

"Arteta just imagined using Zubimendi as a striker ffs," one fan fumed. While a second shared: "Arteta must've daydreamed about Zubimendi as a striker there..."

"Zubimendi can operate as an advanced 8 too? It's almost as if Arteta has been trying to craft the most universal 6/8 pairing in the world with Rice and Zubimendi," a third said. As a fourth replied: "Arteta will rotate Merino and Zubimendi up front after that..."

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And another added: "Zubimendi scores! Thats Arsenals search for a striker over. Artetas found his next midfielder turned striker..."

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