Xavi Remains Insistent On Signing Martin Zubimendi To Replace Sergio Busquets At Barcelona

With Barcelona in the market for a pivot midfielder to replace departing club captain Sergio Busquets, several names have been linked as prospective targets.

But one player who manager Xavi Hernandez continues to be fixated on is Martin Zubimendi of Real Sociedad. It has been previously reported that the Barça legend sees the La Real ace as the ideal man to take the pivot position.

However, the midfielder’s massive €60 million release clause and his reluctance to leave the Basque outfit make his signing nearly impossible.

Despite that, Ferran Martinez of Mundo Deportivo is reporting that Xavi continues to insist on the signing of Zubimendi even though he is well aware of the complications involved in the pursuit of the Real Sociedad ace.

This development comes after the Blaugrana have pretty much ruled out the signing of another of their target, Joshua Kimmich, from Bayern Munich.

Xavi wants Barcelona to go after Zubimendi despite the recent statements made by the player where he admitted that he is more excited about “wearing Illarramendi’s No. 4 than Busquets’ No. 5.”

The statements made by Zubimendi have not changed anything with regard to the opinion of him at Barcelona. Instead, the technical staff believe that it is a sign of respect that the 24-year-old has or his club. And they are hoping to try and please Xavi by getting the signing across the line.

However, Real Sociedad are pretty relaxed about the situation as they believe Zubimendi does not wish to leave the club. Furthermore, their manager Imanol Alguacil firmly believes that the midfielder will remain a part of his squad next season.

So, it remains to be seen whether Barcelona are successful in changing the player’s or La Real’s stance in the coming weeks and engineer a transfer.