Arsenal star named world's second best in his position only behind Man City rival

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Martin Zubimendi has been branded as the second best defensive midfielder in the world after his international team-mate, Rodri , by the Spain head coach, Luis de la Fuente.

The Arsenal star, 27, has made a seismic impression with the Premier League title favourites following his summer transfer from Real Sociedad, featuring in all 31 of their league games to date and contributing five goals. That has helped give them the edge over Rodri and Manchester City in the title race, with the former champions currently nine points behind Mikel Arteta 's men albeit with a game in hand.

Both Zubimendi and Rodri are currently preparing for Spain's upcoming international friendly against Serbia, which takes place on Friday.

And De la Fuente, who is fortunate to be able to call upon both players, insists they are the two best midfielders in the world.

“After all the setbacks he went through, Rodri is back at a high level,” he said. “I’ve said before that he is the best in the world, but also on those same occasions [when he was injured] that we are very fortunate.

“After all, in that position, the number 6 role, we have the two best players in the world: Rodri and Martin [Zubimendi].

“Of course they can play together. We can play that way [with a double pivot] perfectly well. In my idea of football, they [Rodri and Zubimendi] may occupy a similar role, but they are different players with different characteristics.

“In fact, Martin is getting into the box more now and scoring goals, but he also has the qualities of a positional player, with balance and outstanding tactical awareness.

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“Rodri has those same qualities too, so having them there gives us security, that kind of structure.”

Mikel Arteta underlined the impact Zubimendi has had at Arsenal back in January when he lavished praise on the midfielder back in January. He said: “When we talk about Zubi, it’s – what else can he do?

“He can do whatever he wants. It’s a bit similar to Declan Rice ’s qualities. We just have to keep unlocking that in his system, in his brain, because he’s so good at occupying different spaces, carrying the ball, dribbling, winning duels.

“And he has a talent that when he gets into the final step and into the box, he is so composed. He sees the picture very clearly.”