Amrabat is back with Fiorentina and there haven’t been any noises about us making the move permanent from what I’ve seen. Did I miss something?
In terms of squad make up, I believe who we sign in midfield will largely determine how we play. If we bring in Rabiot and Ugarte, I believe we are looking at a double pivot. With Rabiot, Ugarte, Mainoo and one other, likely either Casemiro or McT making up the rotation. Zubimendi gives us more possibility to play with a single pivot in rotation with Casemiro, with Rabiot and Mainoo rotating the 8 role. Ugarte is not suited to playing as a sole pivot, neither is Rabiot or Mainoo. The only two players listed who are, are Casemiro and Zubimendi. Albeit in different ways.
I would be very supportive of signing Zubimendi. I think he would give us more tactical flexibility.
I can say, that regardless of which way we go, we are being linked with a host of names who can all significantly improve us. It’s hard to read which direction we are going in in terms of midfield, but I very much get the impression that we are operating from a well defined blueprint; which hasn’t been the case for quite some time.