Matteo Moretto Transfer Column: Giorgi Mamardashvili, Martin Zubimendi decision and Lenglet to Atletico?

Matteo Moretto gives Football España exclusive information on the latest deals dominating the papers in Spain, as revealed in Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing.

Why Martin Zubimendi turned down Liverpool to stay at Real Sociedad

For Martin Zubimendi, it was very difficult. It’s his club from birth, it can’t be easy to leave that. I think that Zubimendi did not feel that the moment to leave had come in a definitive sense, he still wasn’t 100% clear it was time to make the change. Clearly, Real Sociedad have offered him a very big contract for him and for the club too.

I think it’s more of a personal matter for him, rather than turning down Liverpool, and while it won’t be easy for Liverpool fans or others to understand, it’s about his club. That is basically what he has communicated Liverpool.

When a team as big and important as Liverpool come in for you, a thousand thoughts are probably going through your mind. He didn’t expect Liverpool to go in for him so strongly, and they tried right until the end. It was very exciting for him, he had to take his time with the decision, because he was at no point 100% clear on it.

Liverpool offered him a top-level contract in a top league, and so I think it almost shocks you. There’s no doubt Zubimendi was very attracted by the possibility of signing for Liverpool, and that’s the reason the decision took as long as it did. But in the end, he decided against leaving La Real.

Valencia and Liverpool negotiating final details of Giorgi Mamardashvili deal

The figures I’m told are around €35m. Giorgi Mamardashvili is excited by the prospect of joining Liverpool, and Valencia know that. Valencia brought in Stole Dimitrievski earlier this summer, but they are scouring the market for another alternative already to replace Mamardashvili.

Los Che are negotiating the details with Liverpool, but in theory, they will not stand in the way of Mamardashvili’s dream, and they know that he wants to go one way or another. So it will come down to them sorting out those details.

Atletico Madrid to address centre-back next week with Barcelona defender in waiting

Atletico Madrid are currently focused on negotiating the exit of Joao Felix with Chelsea, and by proxy the arrival of Joao Felix, and they’re doing all they can to get that done. Then next week they will turn their attention to the defence again, as they hunt for a left-footed centre-back.

They already have an agreement in principle with Clement Lenglet, they still need to sort out a few details with Barcelona. He is the easiest and most affordable option, but as we’ve been saying they will exhaust their options to bring in one of their priority options, Feyenoord’s David Hancko or Bayer Leverkusen’s Piero Hincapie first.

Aymeric Laporte is a little bit further away. I don’t think any doubts about Lenglet moving to a domestic rival will be an obstacle for Barcelona in letting him go to Atletico, but they will have to adjust his salary, which is very high.

Matteo Moretto will be back with more transfer news in the coming days, providing exclusive information on the biggest stories in Spain and Italy.

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