If you only judge Martin Zubimendi through statistics, you will be disappointed. But why are you considered one of the best central midfielders in the world? Because Zubimendi's gameplay towards safety and maximum guarantee for the team's rhythmic operation.
As the football data revolution continued to take place at a dizzying speed, it was so easy to visualize a player without directly watching them.
Free sources of statistics online are a powerful tool, helping us outline a player's gameplay. However, pure event data often lacks an important context, which the viewer's eyes can feel when evaluating the true quality.
The subtlety of Martin Zubimendi is located in the middle of those statistical gaps. Arsenal has just recruited a midfielder who plays a very silent bridge, whose rudimentary numbers have never been really impressed on the paper.
Last season in the Real Sociedad shirt, Zubimendi ranked 19th of the 69 midfielders in La Liga in the number of passes facing ahead of each match, and ranked 27th in the number of times the ball led up. The exact pass rate of 84.4% is only average with a highly expected player in the ability to regulate the pace of the match.
Partly can be explained by the definition and sorting of the index. The passes that look like a big impact are sometimes not recorded
