TA: Arsenal is negotiating with the Royal Society to avoid paying Zubimendi a one-time termination fee of 60 million euros

May 16 TheAthletic reported that Arsenal is negotiating with Real Sociedad to sign Zubimendi in a specific matter, hoping to avoid paying the players' termination fee in one lump sum.

It is reported that one way to complete the transaction is to require players to activate their 60 million euro termination clause, which is common in Spain and is almost a legal requirement. Spanish Labor Law stipulates that in theory, every player in La Liga can insist on termination of the contract to join another team, and the player's club is still entitled to compensation, but the amount is determined by the court handling the labor dispute. To avoid this and to comply with labor laws, Spanish clubs usually include termination clauses. Therefore, if the clause is to be activated, the player or his legal representative must deposit funds into the La Liga office in one go, which means unilaterally termination of the contract with the original club. In almost all cases, these funds are transferred to the players by the "buyer's club" and La Liga subsequently allocated the funds to the "seller's club".

This is how Arsenal signed Thomas from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2020. Atletico Madrid is very angry about this, with executives insisting that Arsenal's actions have caused irreparable damage to the relationship between the two clubs. Arsenal's new director Berta still remembers this because he was Atletico Madrid's sports director at the time.

Arsenal has taken a different approach in Zubimendi's transfer. They have made Real Sociedad clear about their intentions and maintained good communication with each other throughout the process, and the relationship between the two sides has continued to this day since last summer. A clear advantage of direct negotiations with Real Sociedad is the ability to negotiate payment methods and conditions and the opportunity to avoid a one-time payment of all €60 million, thus creating a more favorable payment plan.