ARSENAL midfielder Martin Zubimendi is at the centre of a massive row between his former clubs Real Sociedad and Antiguoko.
Zubimendi, 26, has been a huge hit since his £51million arrival from Sociedad in the summer and has helped the club move four points clear at the top of the Premier League.
But Zubimendi’s youth club Antiguoko have gone to court, claiming they are owed £870,000 (€1million) in the deal that took the Spaniard to London last summer.
Roberto Montiel, technical Director of Antiguoko, said: “Currently, the relationship with Real Sociedad is very bad on their part.
“We had an agreement with Real Sociedad until 2020. Since then, we have an agreement with Athletic Bilbao.
“When Zubi signed for Real Sociedad, it was agreed that, in the event of a transfer, we would receive 5 per cent up to one million euros in return.
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“With this behavior, we decided not to renew the agreement with them because we felt mistreated by them.”
Zubimendi spent five years as a youngster at Antiguoko before moving to nearby Sociedad, which is also in the Basque country, at the age of 12. He returned to the club for a brief spell on loan as a teenager with Antiguoko also the youth club where Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta started.
Hitting out at La Liga side Sociedad, Antiguoko boss Montiel added: “They are obsessed with crushing us at all levels. They want us to be more and more inferior.
“The Provincial Council of Guipúzcoa has put in place a law that is subject to Real Sociedad of ‘territoriality’.
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“This means that a boy or girl from a town bordering 5 kilometers from San Sebastián up to under-14 category cannot sign for Antiguoko.
“In other words, any boy or girl within the entire periphery of San Sebastián and its surroundings cannot sign with us, even though the kids’ parents wanted them to join us
“This would be translated as explaining that a child from a neighbourhood on the outskirts of London cannot sign for any club in London up to under-14 category. Madness!
“Real Sociedad collected the transfer fee from the sale of Martín Zubimendi from Arsenal and has not paid us the five per cent that corresponds to us according to the agreement.
“Real Sociedad has not said anything, and we have made the request in court. And we will have an administrative dispute to reach an agreement.
“They will maintain their position of not paying us. That money is very important to us because we invest it in our academy.
“Another example of the poor relationship with Real Sociedad is last season. We were holding an official event to reward Martín for all the sporting achievements he has achieved, and Real Sociedad did not give him authorisation to collect the award. As a result of that decision, we had to cancel the event.
“We have already agreed with Martín that we will hold the event at the end of this season. Furthermore, I don’t think a former Antiguoko player, Mikel Arteta, will pose any problem.”
PORTER’S CHANCE
ARSENAL academy keeper Jack Porter is heading to Qatar with the England squad for the U17 FIFA World Cup.
He was the club’s youngest ever starter – in last season’s Carabao Cup third round win over Bolton – until Max Dowman broke that record by playing against Brighton.
Porter, now 17, who has been training with Mikel Arteta’s first-team, heads to the Middle East as part of Neil Ryan’s 21-man squad on the back of two games against France at St George’s Park, a 1-0 win and 202 draw.
There will be 48 teams in Qatar and England’s first match against Venezuela next Tuesday.
BRAZILIAN HOME COMFORTS
GABRIEL MARTINELLI and Gabriel Magalhaes will feel at home in the forthcoming international window as Brazil will face Senegal in a friendly at the Emirates on November 15.
Incredibly, it will be the 10th time that Brazil have played at the stadium. Their last time in north London was a 1-0 win over Uruguay in 2018 with Neymar scoring.
PART OF THE FURNITURE
CRISTHIAN MOSQUERA has settled in quicker than anyone could have imagined, the 21-year-old stepping in for his debut away at Anfield in August and has not looked back since.
The biggest compliment anyone can give him is that when he has featured in place of William Saliba – currently out injured – there has been little to no difference in terms of performances and defensive solidity.
Part of that is because he has embraced and made an effort to bond with the squad straight away.
That could be seen straight away on the summer pre-season tour in Singapore and Hong Kong, where hours after landing after signing on the dotted line from Valencia, he was strolling around a luxury shopping centre with fellow Spanish-speaking pals David Raya, Mikel Merino and Gabriel.
Mosquera’s biggest concern was the food, having heard horror stories of English dishes during his time in Spain.
But he has revealed: “In Spain some people say the food is not as good here, but the truth is I’ve been really pleased with that too!”
ODEGAARD DEFIES GRAVITY
IN A BID to get back as quickly as possible, Martin Odegaard has been defying gravity.
The Arsenal skipper’s season has been heavily disrupted by shoulder and knee issues, the latter affecting him earlier this month and is expected to be back after the next international break in a few weeks time.
Determined to be back before then, he said: “It’s going well and I’m progressing a lot.
I’ve started moving around more and I’ve been running on the anti-gravity machine this week.
“It’s hard work, but nice to feel that progression – it gives you more motivation.”
Arsenal have several of these anti-gravity treadmills in their medical and rehab centre at their London Colney training base, something that not all Prem clubs have the luxury of.
And Odegaard’s injury has not stopped him leading the club off the pitch too, spending time with supporters this week in the Emirates shop ‘The Armoury’ for autograph and picture sessions.
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SOLID TURNOUT
SOME of the attendances in the EFL Trophy have been low but the gate for the under 21s’ 4-3 loss away to Exeter on Tuesday was respectable.
The crowd was 3606 with 739 Arsenal fans making the journey.
