Real Sociedad drop bombshell in Martin Zubimendi saga with squad announcement

Real Sociedad dropped something of a bombshell on Thursday afternoon with a squad announcement. Martin Zubimendi has been strongly linked with Liverpool.

News broke on Wednesday that Liverpool were pushing to sign Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad. The Spaniard has been chased heavily by major clubs for years now, but the Reds feel confident of signing him.

So much so that they're apparently willing to pay his release clause, with the player himself on board for the transfer.

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All going well, then. Only, fresh reports suggest that Sociedad are pushing hard to keep Zubimendi with a 'charm offensive' aimed at the start.

They don't want to lose the midfielder, even for his £51m release clause (all paid up front, too). This suddenly doesn't seem to be going Liverpool's way.

And Sociedad added fuel to that fire late on Thursday as they announced their squad for a friendly against Union Berlin. They're playing the German side on Friday.

Zubimendi, it seems, will feature. He was named in that squad, suggesting he's not close at all to moving away. After all, you don't risk playing someone on the verge of a £51m transfer - and you certainly don't use them to plan for the upcoming season.

Not a good sign in the Martin Zubimendi chase

This should be seen as a blow. If Liverpool have made any sort of approach here - and it was one that had a chance of going through - Zubimendi wouldn't be in that squad.

The fact that he is suggests this one isn't close. It doesn't rule out a transfer but we wouldn't recommend getting his name on the back of a shirt any time soon.

Liverpool have some work to do here and while we're sure they can pull it off, it's a transfer that could really go either way.