Steven Gerrard ‘disappointed’ Arsenal beat Liverpool to £60m transfer deal

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Zubimendi held his own in Arsenal’s semi-final first leg against Atleti (Picture: Getty) The midfielder had been close to joining Liverpool two years ago (Picture: Getty) ‘He’s been a good player for Arsenal but right now I was expecting that this would be where Zubimendi would be the player. You want them to be rotating with each other, and you want one back there to link play with the defence and the full-backs. ‘It felt to me today that Zubimendi, Rice and Odegaard got outplayed by that Newcastle midfield.’ Zubimendi has been a near-ever present in his debut season with the Gunners (Picture: Getty) Neville’s former England team-mate Gerrard remains a believer in Zubimendi’s qualities, though, convinced Arsenal have got their hands on a ‘really intelligent’ player at the base of their midfield.

Two years ago, Gerrard’s beloved Liverpool had appeared on the cusp on a deal for Zubimendi, only for the Spain international to pull the plug on a proposed move to stay with Real Sociedad. ‘He’s been given a really key role,’ Gerrard said on TNT Sports ahead of Arsenal’s draw with Atleti, just moments before kick-off. ‘At Liverpool, we were linked with for a long time, watched a lot of him on the back of that – [I was] disappointed that we didn’t sign him on the back of that. Gerrard is regarded as one of the finest central midfielders of the modern era (Picture: Getty) ‘Arsenal have got a fantastic player, really intelligent. ‘I think he’ll have a big boost being back in Spain tonight, back where he’s from.

At the same time, he’s got to connect Arsenal’s play. He’s got a pivotal role.’ Zubimendi rejected Liverpool in the summer he won the Euros with Spain (Picture: Getty) Zubimendi has made no secret of just how close he came to signing for Liverpool a year prior to joining Arsenal.