Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Confirmed: Arsenal complete signing of Mikel Merino

Arsenal have confirmed the arrival of Mikel Merino from Real Sociedad on a permanent deal for a fee in the region of £27.4m plus £4.2m in add-ons.

The Spain international has signed a four-year contract, with an option for an additional year, and will add midfield depth in both the number 6 and number 8 positions. He has been handed squad number 23.

Merino left Osasuna for Borussia Dortmund in 2016 before joining Newcastle in a loan move that Rafa Benitez turned permanent. Real Sociedad triggered a release clause almost immediately and he’s since played nearly 200 games in La Liga for the Basque club.

The midfielder made his senior debut for Spain in 2020 and this summer was part of the squad that won the European Championships in Germany. Along the way, he memorably scored an extra-time winner to knock out the hosts at the quarter-final stage.

It’s believed Atletico Madrid and Barcelona showed interest in signing Merino but after his time at St James’ Park he clearly has unfinished business in the Premier League.

After a drawn-out courtship, Mikel Arteta said: “Mikel is a player who will bring us huge quality with his experience and versatility. He has played at the top of the game at both club and international level for a number of seasons now. Mikel will make our squad significantly stronger, with his technical ability, together with his strong and positive character and personality.

“As we all saw in the summer, Mikel is also a winner, with his strong performances throughout the Euros helping Spain win the tournament. We are delighted to welcome Mikel and his family to the club and can’t wait to start working with him.”

Merino undertook his medical at London Colney over the weekend and will now train with his new teammates ahead of a possible debut against Brighton on Saturday.

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It Is What It Is

Who?

C.B.

Another big beast at 6 foot 2, along with Calafiori, Saliba, Gabriel, Rice, Benjamin, Havertz. Liking the physicality!!! (buy a tall CF and we’ll have 8 out of 10 on the pitch over 6 foot plus Saka and Odegaard)

Daveo
Dr. Gooner

I feel mislead, the statue is actually a lifelike representation of Rambo.

Nacho de Montreal is tasty

Toney going to Chelsea. We make fun of Chelsea but it seems getting two wins against them will be really really tough this season or next.

Dr. Gooner

Don’t be fooled by the Wolves game. They actually had fewer expected goals in that game than Wolves! Sometimes everything flies in. They still have major on and off the pitch issues.

nanogunner

One step forward, two steps backward for Chelsea. Similar script as last year.

Artedu

They made captain the guy who was filming a racial slur about a frnace national team, while they have French players. Boy that will go well

Goonshow

You’ll find out soon enough. Mark my words…

It Is What It Is

For clarity, and to avoid mass elevated blood pressure…..I am extremely pleased with the signing. In fact, I have total trust in Mikel the Mister. Mikel the Maestro ticks all the boxes for attributes Arteta values.

Just a play on the reaction to a player coming on at the Emirates & his long anticipated arrival. Not a total recluse.

Olawale Olayemi

Wow! Never saw that coming!

A different George

I came here specifically to see how many times this comment or a variation would appear. In fairness, I would have done it myself if needed.

Olawale Olayemi

Full disclosure: it’s been in the vault for a couple of weeks

Goonshow

Fuller disclosure – Mikel has been sniffing around Mikel for some time now…

Ebo

Like a new signing?

Daveo

Basically cost recovery: Eddie for Merino…
That’s some fucking sweet business Edu! Classy addition here. I think we’ll see a fair bit of switching between rice and Merino. I really want partey to stick around as he is a quality piece to bring good rotation to the midfield.

Dr. Gooner

My hope is Declan will drop back to the pivot now. MM is a natural in the role Dec has been trying to play, but I don’t think it suits him and I think he’s getting frustrated with it.

Johnny 4 Hats

I haven’t really enjoyed TP5’s performances this season. And I’m not convinced with Declan at left 8.

I hope Merino can therefore become a permanent fixture as our 8.

New LB, new LCM, new LWF incoming?

Interesting few days ahead of us gooners!

Tankard Gooner

TP5 has looked very rusty so far, and like Blogs pointed out a few days ago, we’re all wondering why.
Looking forward to seeing Merino take charge of the position in the coming weeks.
And for the life of me I cannot remember him playing for Newcastle.

Johnny 4 Hats

I think TP5 has always had mistakes in him. He’s always given the ball away cheaply and mentally he’s just not the strongest.

But his athleticism was so imperious that he could often recover from mistakes and glide past players as if they weren’t there.

But now the legs have gone a little, we still get the same mistakes and brain farts but we don’t get his ability to stride through the lines anymore.

He’s a good player to have in reserve. But I don’t think he’s physically able to play top level football consistently anymore.

A different George

For me, his greatest strength was the ability to receive the ball on the half-turn from the keeper or the centre halves while closely marked, and move it forward either through carrying it or with very good, quick passes, often to Ødegaard. He was surely one of the best in the world at that and it made a huge difference for Arsenal’s attack, Never a number 6 who destroys the opponent’s attacks (neither a Rodri nor a Kante version of that). The guy who played that role for us in the past two seasons was William Saliba.

Kevin

Did he play against us in the game immediately before the “Wenger to leave” announcement?

Daveo

I certainly enjoyed Partey making a mockery of Martinez…

Joker

I think the idea is for Merino to replicate what Xhaka gave us in his last season – good forward passing and the ability to speed up our transitions on the left side. From what I’ve seen he’s also a combative powerhouse. Definitely looking forward to seeing him in action.

Dr. Gooner

I would say instead that Xhaka and Rice have tried to impersonate Merino, and now we are getting the real thing.

Dr. Gooner

To be clear because I know what happens, I’m not saying he’s universaly better than those guys. I’m saying he’s a natural in that role and those guys aren’t.

John C

I agree, our game is really missing that ability to speed up our play and make line splitting passes down that left hand and from the admittedly short youtube video I watched, that appears to be exactly what Merino can bring to the team.

A lot of the assessment is that Merino is a dual winning monster and thats what Arteta is looking for but i think that’s an incorrect analysis. I think Arteta is after players that can win duels rather than duel winners that can play, and I think Merino is the former rather than the later.

mc1892

I’m thinking that Merino and Rice will actually rotate even throughout the game between ‘6’ and ‘8’, given both can play both positions. I guess similarly to a double pivot except one always remains further forward to lead the press. Could be a very cool setup and one that’s very difficult to play against.

Flash

I think we could also use the same old 4-2-3-1 formation that Wenger used a lot. As Merino will play as a left footed on the left side, with Odegaard playing a bit more centrally – our attack could have been a bit more balanced and unpredictable, while our defending would still remain rock solid.

Nacho de Montreal is tasty

Not even his goal?

BillyKrystal

Partey is shakier now but I will never not love how he plays. His calmness, almost impudence on the ball is a joy to watch. Shades of Yaya Toure the way he lulls players to sleep. He’s probably too big a liability now but I don’t know there’s no player quite like him. I often dream if we’d gotten him at 23 or 24 what he could’ve become, instead of being stifled in Madrid.

Goonshow

Yep – I like to think (hope) we’ll still see some vintage TP if he can just stay fit and get a run of games (not even full matches, just regular minutes with his team mates). I think his last few seasons have been so fragmented that he’s never been able to just settle into a groove.

Bleeding Gums Murphy

I get you in terms of legs are not what they were and there is a risk element but I’ve looked at wolves game and villa game and we are more dangerous with TP there. The times in both games where he breaks the line with a forward pass whether out to wing (mostly saka) or through to odegarrd or Rice is worth noting. I think there’s a risk but two nil twice says it’s worth taking.

Goonshow

TP has become the new Marmite for us gooners… but man, when he’s purring there are few like him to just step through a press and pop a laser pass out wide.
If he stays fit and gets a run of games, I think we’re still to see the best of him.

John C

Totally agree, I think Partey has been generally poor since he came back from injury. He just isn’t the same player from the early part of the season before that.

I think he’s been too cautious with the ball and we’ve lost attacking tempo. Conversely we also look more vulnerable in defence as he doesn’t shield the back 4 as well as Rice.

I have wondered why we haven’t tried Rice at Dm and Partey at 8, perhaps he no longer has the legs to play higher up the pitch?

Arkansas Gooner

Welcome! Hopefully once up to speed he can take over the left 8 roles and we can move Rice back to the 6. We shall see, but glad the saga is over!

Kiwomya

Looks like they’ve merged Edu and Arteta together

ScotchEggsRule

Lolol good spot!!

Harry

Exactly what I was coming down here to type 😂

David C

He’s a very good looking man! My wife is happy but she still misses Freddie!!! Haha

I love his height and physicality. I think this is a very smart signing.

Next up a wide forward to take the pressure off of Saka please.

Matt

There’s an R2D2 pun here somewhere. Artedu? No.

Goonshow

Just as long as he’s not sheepish in the tackle.

Ouch.

Dr. Gooner

Did you miss our Merino pun extravaganzas? They were rammed into so many comments.

Wingston75

is it just me or does it look like MA’s noggin has been photoshopped in there?

Goonshow

We’ll never pick up Gillette as a sponsor at this rate.
But I’m quietly excited to see what Poorly Drawn does with those brows!

Ebo

Thanks Kiwomya, now I’ll never be able to unsee that.

ScotchEggsRule

Welcome to The Arsenal.

Amusa

Welcome to our family. Welcome to the best club in the world!

Snc

Our central midfield will be strong as hell… Mikel, declan, thomas and jorginho. Unfortunately only 2 will start alongside MØ.

Najjaboy007

Not trying to be negative but Harvertz wasn’t brought in to be a striker. I really do hope we win the league but the truth is we’ve known we needed a striker for a while now. We will be stronger with Merino but we won’t win the league without a striker. I want Gyokeres but I will be happy with whoever we bring in. The thing is we have to aim to be bigger than we were last year. I’d say we are roughly the same (which isn’t a bad thing ) but a striker would give us genuine belief… Read more »

El Mintero

You speak the truth friend!

Tobi6footplus

I think we need a wide forward rather than a centre forward. I also think we are much better than last season. First of all, we’ve fixed our left side with Merino and Califouri; a lot of our inefficiencies last season came from our left side both defensively and going forward. Secondly, we had two teams last season. The team from the second half of last season, a team that had developed a great understanding of each others role and relationships, is kicking off this season from the jump. That’s invariably a major advantage we’ve got this season.

Goonshow

Left side looking a LOT better – raises questions about Zinch though. With the rumbling about Kiwior, I must say I’d far rather keep him and take what we can scrounge up for Zinch.

Goonshow

I want world peace (and Angelina Jolie to bring me coffee of a morning)… but neither is happening any time soon.

TeeCee

Hmm, I’m sure I remember us once buying a winger from Juventus and using him as a striker.
IIRC that worked out OK for us, despite us not booting him out of the job in favour of a specialist striker at the first opportunity.

Ebo

Great plan, let’s just find another Thierry Henry, a supremely talented, incredibly driven individual whose talent hasn’t been tapped just yet and is yet unappreciated by most other clubs making him available to be bought for a decent price. Easy peasy.

Ebo

“Not trying to be negative…”
*goes on to be negative*

El Mintero

Why is it negative? Are you allowed to posit a differing point of view that doesn’t mimic the PR guff most are happy to gulp down without question…?

Ebo

Yes you are. I’m just bantering, I don’t honestly care that much and also I’d love us to buy an attacker. But as far as it not mimicking anything, mate, sorry to say, literally half the fanbase has been constantly yammering about this and posting different versions of this exact same comment. So excuse me for making some light fun of it 🙂

Santi’s Phonebox

A striker wouldn’t give me belief, but I would enjoy seeing a pacy wide man who can play left, right or down the middle and scores a fuck ton of goals. That would be nice. The players we have are good enough to win the league but we are light up front, need more depth. There will be a bunch of movement in the Jan window as well around the league.

truj

It is a very uncomfortable step. We must increase the number of Mikels in the Arsenal after the total rule of the Gabriels.

truj

Understandable

Goonshow

We now have Holy Gabi, Fast Gabi and Big Gabi.
With Boss Mikel and Beast Mikel

Tony

Thomas Party will still be ahead of him. Party is a class.

Matt

But as the song goes, there aint no partey like a Thomas Partey because a Thomas Partey is almost perpetually injured. Or something.

Richard

Partey was class, but these days he’s slowed down and is prone to making mistakes, sadly…(not to mention his constant battling with injuries)

Matt

I knew we were going to sign this guy. Damn I’m good.

Savage

You’re an ITK

Danny

Another handsome bastard to add to the team.

Matt

Handsome is Arteta’s secret non-negotiable

Nathan

Wool done, Edu and Mikel!

Goonshow

Sharp

Goonshow

Or, perhaps… sheep.

DefaultGray

Lots of people favoured Zubimendi but he refuses to leave Sociedad for anybody. Merino is gonna be a very solid signing for us for the next 4 years, I’m really pleased with this.

loose_cannon

Zubimendi made sense as a Jorginho successor but maybe signing Merino means a change of direction there.

Dada

He has Jesus Navas vibes. Not really made to leave his boy hood club which is fair.

Mark

Great to have this one finally over the line, seemed to drag on forever. Hopefully can get him up to speed and ready to go for the upcoming fixtures with Spurs and City and maybe a brief sub appearance this weekend.

Billy bob

Not happy he played a part in dumping Germany out of the Euros, to be fair that should have been the final, but he is a quality addition 👍

Jimbob

Am I the only one that see’s an Arteta Edu love child??

Teryima Adi

Welcome on board The Arsenal, Merino❤️

Goonshow

Or even… welcome to the flock.

Frog In Ze Room

Welcome Mikel! Number 10 incoming?

Man Manny

At this rate, Arsenal would not be out of place in a basketball 🏀 court. We can potentially have a team of 8 six footers at once!
Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Rice, Merino and Havertz.
No team would dare bully us anymore.
I am looking forward to our away game against Newcastle; I hope they’ll try the physicality of last season.

chepetin

You’ve also got Ramsdale, Partey, Kiwior, Tomiyasu, maybe others. More than half the team must be taller than 6’

Kevin

Right, that’s the 6 and 8 thing finally sorted. Now we just need another 7, a 9 and a 13 (or two 13s if Ramsdale goes).

El Mintero

Here’s an alternative view of this signing…50/50 borderline underwhelming. Why?
1. Not the creative ball playing left 8 I was hoping we’d sign to really boost the left flank.
2. More of a bruiser with physical presence but middling passing ability that has basically had a journeyman career in Spain and was not an always a regular starter for sociedad last couple of seasons.
3. Too expensive and borderline too old for any chance to recoup value from a future transfer. Split the club’s management on whether a good deal or not. But Arteta gets the backing once again.

Dr. Gooner

Yes, points 1 and 3 are the bear case against him. Passing is better than you think based on the % though. When you watch his tape, he just fires lowish percentage but potentially very high reward passes forward time after time. When he played for Spain he completed 90% of his passes and his pass map was conservative. I think the pass% thing is 90% a style thing. And, I’ll go on to add that I don’t mind if he does that for Arsenal. We need to take more risks to open teams up. Part of the beauty of… Read more »

Dr. Gooner

The part about him not being a regular is not true. Only the GK, CB and Zubi had more minutes in recent seasons.

Double

I agree with a couple of those points, the player I liked in that team (Spain) was the other midfielder, Fabian I think, he seemed to have it all.

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