Xabi Alonso has explained why Martin Zubimendi would be perfect Liverpool No. 6

If Xabi Alonso’s comments are anything to go off, Liverpool fans have every reason to be excited about the Reds targeting Martin Zubimendi.

Since David Ornstein reported for the Athletic on Tuesday that “Liverpool are pursuing a specialist No. 6 from outside of the Premier League,” the internet has been speculating who it could be.

Reliable journalist Paul Joyce has now reported for the Times that Martin Zubimendi, who came on for Rodri at half time in Spain’s Euro 2024 final win over England, is being “considered” by Liverpool.

After impressing for La Real across the 2023/24 season in which he played 45 times, he is now being targeted by the Reds who are keen to sign the midfielder with a £51 million buyout clause.

• READ HERE: Reds targeting Zubimendi as new No. 6 signing – £51m buyout clause

The 25-year-old has been at Real Sociedad since he was 12 years old and is now one of the most sought-after holding midfielders in Europe.

During his time in the youth setup at La Real, he worked with Alonso in the B team when the Bayer Leverkusen boss was learning his trade as a coach.

As well as sharing an agent and a connection to their first grassroots club, Antiguoko, the pair possess similarities in their traits as players, something Alonso talked to the Guardian about in 2022.

The former Liverpool player said: “Martin’s a player all coaches would want. He’s generous, he always thinks more about his teaMMAtes than himself.

“He has that ability to generate play, to make those around him better, always offering solutions; to improve the move.

“He understands what the next step is before the ball gets to him. He has that ability to organise the axis. I loved working with him.”

Zubimendi also had only positive things to say about his compatriot, saying: “I wasn’t even with him a full season because of the pandemic but those were lovely months.

“It was when he came that I started playing more; with Xabi, I got a run of Games. I could feel the affection he had for me, which maybe comes from having the same position. He made a point of trying to show me things, teaching me.

“With him, I learned to recognise and differentiate [types of] presses, overcoming them.

“Before then, I played the way that more or less came naturally. With him I started to truly understand concepts for bringing the ball out, building play. He insisted a lot on the analysis.

“We would walk it through, iNFLatables positioned where the opposition would be.”

If Zubimendi were to sign for Liverpool, he would play under Arne Slot as Liverpool’s deepest-lying midfielder, a role that has been occupied by Wataru Endo, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch so far in pre-season.