Arsenal latest: Zubimendi at centre of 'very bad' row as transfer 'needs' to go through

Arsenal will be looking to maintain their impressive form when they travel to face Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday. Mikel Arteta's side enjoyed a flawless October, securing victory in all six matches whilst keeping a clean sheet throughout the entire month.

The Gunners comfortably progressed to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 triumph over Brighton in midweek, though they now face a challenging fixture against Crystal Palace in the last eight. The tie may need to be rescheduled due to Palace's demanding fixture list, which sees them play four matches in just eight days. However, Arteta has expressed reluctance about changing the date. He said: "I don't think that's fair because we have other competitions as well, so we have to try to accommodate. We knew at the start of the season the competitions that each club is playing in. I don't think it would be fair."

Here, Express Football brings you the latest developments at Arsenal, including a dispute involving a summer recruit.

Zubimendi caught up in 'very bad' row

Martin Zubimendi finds himself at the centre of an intense dispute between his previous clubs Real Sociedad and Antiguoko. The midfielder left Sociedad during the summer window to join up with Arteta's squad.

However, The Sun reports that Zubimendi's former youth club Antiguoko have taken legal action regarding the transfer. They are reportedly seeking £870,000 (€1m) from the deal which brought him to north London last summer.

Roberto Montiel, the technical director of Antiguoko, has slammed Sociedad's actions and claimed his club has been "mistreated". He said: "Currently, the relationship with Real Sociedad is very bad on their part.

"We had an agreement with Real Sociedad until 2020. Since then, we have an agreement with Athletic Bilbao. When Zubi signed for Real Sociedad, it was agreed that, in the event of a transfer, we would receive 5 per cent up to one million euros in return. With this behaviour, we decided not to renew the agreement with them because we felt mistreated by them."

Expressing his frustration further, Montiel added: "They are obsessed with crushing us at all levels. They want us to be more and more inferior. The Provincial Council of Guipuzcoa has put in place a law that is subject to Real Sociedad of 'territoriality'.

"Real Sociedad collected the transfer fee from the sale of Martin Zubimendi from Arsenal and has not paid us the five per cent that corresponds to us according to the agreement.

"Real Sociedad has not said anything, and we have made the request in court. And we will have an administrative dispute to reach an agreement. They will maintain their position of not paying us. That money is very important to us because we invest it in our academy."

Future transfer 'needs' to happen

Micah Richards, the former Manchester City defender, has suggested that Arsenal's young prodigy Max Dowman may need to consider a loan move in the future.

Despite being only 15, Dowman has already made a significant impact at Arsenal, making his debut at the start of the season and even starting against Brighton.

During an episode of The Rest is Football, Richards stressed that as Dowman matures, he will need to secure regular playing time elsewhere. He said: "He's special, isn't he? He's special."

"I think the difference that I see with him is that normally, you get thrown in at 15-16 because you are physically developed. And he's not, he's technically developed, which would say that he's going to be something special.

"He's just got a window from 16 to 18 to keep developing at the same rate. And Mikel Arteta comes with these quotes, but he has to be playing also, because you can't get 30 minutes here and then 90 minutes [there], because other people are developing at a quicker rate than you would be.

"Maybe he needs to go out on loan. I know that's maybe too early, I don't think he can go out on loan yet at 15. He's not going to get the game time."

Co-host Gary Lineker agreed with Richards' assessment and noted that while Dowman is versatile enough to play in various positions for Arsenal, he still needs more game time. He added: "But he plays in a position that Saka plays, so he's not.

"He can play No.10 and he can play the other side. But the manager, the way he is, I would say, he errs on the side of being a little bit more defensive with Saka and then allowing the players to come on.

"He's not going to play ahead of Saka. But to keep developing, he needs to play. That would be my only worry."