Martin Zubimendi opens up on turning down Liverpool with ‘high demands’ at Real Sociedad
Martin Zubimendi felt he simply could not turn his back on Real Sociedad this summer despite having a very attractive offer on the table to make the move to Liverpool.
A Euro 2024 winner with Spain, Zubimendi’s contract contains a €60m (£50.6m) release clause that Liverpool triggered over the summer, only to come away empty-handed after Zubimendi decided to remain true to his hometown club.
Yet Real Sociedad president Jokin Aperribay has revealed that Zubimendi’s decision to stay at the club had no strings attached to it.
Apperibay told Noticias de Gipuzkoa: “There has been no conversation with Zubimendi to renew his contract. There hasn’t been one now and there hasn’t been one before. He didn’t put any conditions on us.
“He understood the situation and knew that it was a market in which some players were already going to leave, and he understood that it was time to stay at Real Sociedad. He has not made it a condition for us to renew nor have we talked about it. The conversation with Martin was short and quick.”
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Zubimendi had hinted in an interview with Marca earlier in the week that part of his thinking was that he wanted to help the club get through a tough transitional period and remain in contention towards the upper end of La Liga.
Sociedad have finished in the top six every year since 2020/21, appearing in the Europa League three times before reaching the last 16 of the Champions League last season.
But the high-profile losses of Robin Le Normand to Atletico Madrid and Mikel Merino to Arsenal have led to a tricky start to the season for Real Sociedad, who have taken just one win from their first four games.
Zubimendi said: “It’s true that right now we are not at one hundred percent. We have new players who have barely trained with us and other important ones have left. As soon as we find the right mix, things will be fine.
“This project that has been going on for years. We have been in Europe for five years and the demands are high – not only in the club, but also from the people. We hope to meet those expectations.”
Apperibay added that Sociedad aim to build a side capable of delivering trophies to the loyal Zubimendi, saying: “We have decided to invest in the future … if we had looked to the present we would have made transfers of a different profile.
“There are many clubs that when you invest in the short term your next step if it doesn’t work out is difficult. Talent, training, believing, growing and progressing. These last two are not the same. I hope they make us progress. I want to win everything, La Liga too.”
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