Nacho Monreal, a three-time FA Cup winner with Arsenal, has revealed he played a key role in the Gunners’ deal to sign Martin Zvimendi from Real Sociedad.
Martin Zvimendi’s move to Arsenal was not only years in the making, but also orchestrated by one of Mikel Arteta’s former Gunners team-mates.
Three-time FA Cup winner Nacho Monreal shared the Real Sociedad dressing room with the technically gifted 26-year-old maestro and quickly realized he had all the tools to prove himself ready for the Premier League.
So he contacted Arteta and encouraged him to break the rush to sign Zvimendi.
Speaking via BetMGM ahead of the North London derby, Monreal said: “Yes, I spoke to him (Arteta) and the whole club a long time ago.
“I said to them, ‘You have to look at Martin Zvimendi,’ because for me when I arrived at Real Sociedad, Mikel Merino, for example, was already playing for Newcastle and Borussia Dortmund.
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“He was already a good player, but Martin was starting from scratch, coming from the academy.
“From the beginning, even from the first moment, I could see something different, something special.
“This guy is 20, 21 years old and he’s performing like he’s been playing for 10 years already.
“He has something different and was a really, really good move in my opinion.
“Yes, they paid a lot of money for him, but he deserved it. He is still young and will remain at the top level for the next six, seven, eight years. This was a good move for Arsenal and of course for Martin.”
Monreal, who currently works as a football agent for Global Asses, spent three seasons in the Basque Country alongside £55m Gunners star Zvimendi before retiring in 2022.
But Arteta already had things under control, so he didn’t feel the need to step in and sell Arsenal’s project to the Euro 2024 winners.
The former left-back said: “We didn’t talk about Arsenal exactly, but the truth is that Liverpool were interested in signing him and he said he was not ready to leave Real Sociedad.”
“But when he received the offer from Arsenal this year, he knew it was the right time and the right place to go.
“I know Mikel called him, but Mikel is really, really good when he calls players and tells them exactly what they want to hear.
“He’s a very, very smart player, but Arsenal really needed this kind of player.”
It is also a great personal pleasure for Monreal to see three Spanish internationals playing key roles in Arsenal’s Premier League title win.
He also talked about shot-stopper David Raya, who continues to grow with Merino: “Merino is playing very well and scoring a lot of goals.
“When I was at Sociedad, I didn’t score that many goals, but now I play different roles at Arsenal, always giving 100 percent, helping the team and always smiling.
“Raya also did an incredible job and made a lot of saves. It was a great signing.”
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