Arsenal midfielder Martin Zubimendi has previously been a transfer target for Bayern Munich, but at the moment he’d be too expensive.

The Spain international has fallen down the pecking order in recent times, with Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta favouring Myles Lewis-Skelly at the end of last season and then signing Bruno Guimaraes in the summer.

Still, Zubimendi looks too expensive for Bayern at the moment, while there also doesn’t look to be room in Vincent Kompany’s squad for another midfielder right now, according to Christian Falk.

Writing in his latest CF Bayern Insider column, Falk said: “Bayern will not go for the Spaniard in the winter. What I can say is that he was on the list of Bayern Munich in the past before he got his move to the Premier League. Bayern Munich were scouting him and there were talks, but in the end, it wasn’t a match!

“Now, I don’t think it’s the right time to go for him. There just isn’t the space in the midfield department. He will also be very expensive, and FC Bayern are searching in other positions. Bayern admire Zubimendi but they won’t go for him in the January transfer window.”

Will Martin Zubimendi stay at Arsenal?

Zubimendi started well at Arsenal and surely still has it in him to contribute something to Arteta’s squad over the course of a long season in which they’re sure to struggle with injuries and suspensions at some point.

The 27-year-old will perhaps be patient enough to wait for an opportunity, as it seems unlikely that Arteta will just continue to freeze him out after showing so much trust in him for large chunks of the previous campaign.

Still, talkSPORT have linked Zubimendi as a target for Atletico Madrid, and there’s every chance that big clubs like that could come in for him at some point and offer him a tempting opportunity.

Arsenal fans will be relieved, however, to hear that Zubimendi himself has played down talk of an imminent departure.

“I spoke with Mikel at the beginning of the season. As he does with all the players, he explained the plan to me,” Zubimendi said to Marca, as quoted and translated by the Metro.

“He warned me that there were new signings and that there would be playing time for everyone. And here we are, fighting for it.

“I understand because, for me, we’re among the five best teams in Europe. There are some fantastic players. New signings have arrived in my position, and there were already some very good players. I’m also part of that competition that makes it so difficult to get playing time.

“I’m calm and happy with how I’m handling this situation. It’s something I’ve never experienced before, and I think you learn from these situations too.

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“Besides, it’s in moments like these that you need the people around you the most, and they’re there for you.

“I’m patient. When you’ve been playing a lot of minutes and your role changes to not playing as much, I’m able to see the positive side. I think everything passes, that just like last year the opposite happened to me and I played practically everything, this can change very quickly.”