Despite the fact he only made his debut for Arsenal last night, Mikel Merino says he’s a better player now than when he joined the club from Real Sociedad this summer.
The Spanish international had an unfortunate start to his career in North London, picking up a shoulder injury in his first training session, ruling him out of action until his return last night in the 2-0 win over PSG.
Reflecting on that incident, Merino said, “It was really tough, to be honest. Mentally, to come in here, you want to have a nice few days to show everybody what you are capable of, to show why they have put their faith in you.
“And then the first thing that happens is you break your scapula. It’s tough to recover from that mentally. But, well, everybody here in the club was really nice to me, really lovely.
“I could feel the support and the love of everybody, and obviously that helped me a lot in the recovery.
“It also gave me a lot of time to think, to get to know my teammates, to get to know the staff, to work on myself, the things that I need to do in terms of tactics, in terms of physicality.
“I think I am a much better player now than I was four weeks ago.”
It also gave him time to get up to speed with the way this Arsenal team works, and the tactical and organisational structures Mikel Arteta has put in place.
As a 28 year old player who has experience in Spain, Germany and England – as well as international level – you might expect Merino has seen it all at this point, but he insists the Gunners are doing things which are new to him.
“It’s something that is amazing, to be honest with you,” he said.
“They do some things that I’ve never seen in my career. The methods they use are completely new to me.
“So obviously it takes some time to adapt. But at the same time, I think when you get it, you are in a different level because they challenge you every single day, not only physically, but mentally.”
Those challenges are part of why he decided to leave Spain for London, saying, “When I spoke to Mikel and I saw what was the plan, not only with me, but with the whole team, what was the culture, I felt this was the right place to be to take the next step in my career.
“I want to grow up, I want to learn even more, and I think this is the right place to keep improving and to keep winning. And to win trophies.”
Let’s hope we see a lot more of him in the coming weeks, and it’s great to see him finally pull on the red and white.
Lez Goo!!!
Cool and good
I like what he is saying about growing up. We sometimes are fooled into thinking that because you’re a 28 year old footballer, you’re a fully grown up human being and should be a mature and responsible presence.
I mean, I think back to when I was 28 and I was just watching football down the pub and sitting around writing dumb comments on the internet. I didn’t have varicose veins or a bad back or a deep seated fear that if I lose my job my whole family might starve.
Yeah. It’s great getting older.
a deep seated fear that if I lose my job my whole family might starve.
===
Yes, and I’d add, “deep seated fear that if I get sick and die my whole family might starve.” Never crossed my mind at 28!
Or…..
I get sick and die and my wife remarries Teddy Sheringham and he raises my two children as Spurs fans.
Eurgh. Just had to swallow some bile.
I already like him just for teaching me the word “scapula”
Proving that his Latin is as good as his English!
Anyone knows what are the things he refers to as “never seen before?”
Pickpocketing?
Dar Karts!
Ask Rice, he said same when he came in.
He’s still learning so much every day!
Either Stuivenberg took his air pods out or Tierney wore tracksuit bottoms.
Would we tell you if we knew? You could be a spy! Andy Drew, or Nancy Drew, hmmmmm?
Well Donnarumma had very obviously not seen a free kick like that one last night before.
Poor bastard was so confused he never even tried to stop it.
for obvious purposes those things are mostly kept under wraps so that other teams don’t steal them, to maintain the advantage as long as possible. Actually as I was reading that I was actually wondering if teams will now want to buy our players just for the sake of corporate espionage, to learn what Arteta is doing with them?
Understanding this would require a deep look under the hood of Mikel Arteta’s methods, which are probably closely guarded, and then understanding the nuances that might be new to Merino adds a whole new layer to that. Ny guess is he is referring to the “rigid fluidity” of rotating multiple players to perform the same roles in the same game one minute to the next is probably new to him. Arsenal build in a central “box” of 4, two up top and two at the base, but the players who occupy those positions often rotate. One of the two at… Read more »
As one of Arteta’s disciples, he’s paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 2:9.
To me it was a pleasure to see someone of his frame on our midfield las night: tall, combative, but also calm and classy, and got right down to it when he came in, winning some good duels. When asked by the media team what his favorite TV Show was, Merino said “The Last Dance”, wich tells the story of Michael Jordan and the Bulls – a team that had 0 NBA titles when Jordan got there, and he left them with 5 titles. Merino was also spotted wearing a Jordan shirt at the Euros, and chose number #23 at… Read more »
Yeah, I think Miguel is the Spanish equivalent to Michael. It’s Basque.
We had six dudes over 6 foot (most over 6’2”) on the pitch at once and it has to be an intimidating sight to other teams. I love it. Reminds me of how solid our spine was in the early 90’s and early 2000’s.
Being a Chicagoan myself I must say mj brought 6 rings to the Windy City not 5 but cheers anyways tho innit
Hope the dyed-in-the-wool English media will not lambast him for these comments. They’ve have been bleating all week about the gunners’ dark arts, haven’t they?. But, that’s shear genius of him to make these timely observations
Ha ha, hysterical
Wonder how long we can keep this streak going, one of us knitting together at least one pun-filled comment under every article about him.
Well, of course, he hasn’t seen these tactics before. He’s had the wool pulled over his eyes!
In France, they’re saying that Dembele could have destroyed our defence. I laughed.
It would have been a much harder match for us. Anyone who has watched France knows Dembele has extraordinary pace and brilliant technical ability but cannot seem to score or make the right decision on the final pass. But so far this season, four goals and four assists in, I think, six matches. I assume the French media are using this as a stick to beat Luis Enrique, rather than denigrating the Arsenal defense.
If Man City and Haaland can’t ‘destroy’ our defence when we’re down to 10, that’s indeed a bit of a stretch.
Haaland doesn’t destroy defences though. He gets into great positions and knows how to shoot. He is no Henry, Ronaldo, Messi, Mbappe or Benzema. He is a much better Lukaku or Nilsteroy and better than Raul and Pippo Inzaghi. If I had to vote for Ballon d’Or, he would never get my vote.
That’s all the French media need to know…lol
havertz hasn’t worked out very well as a number 8, declan is often invisible as well in that position. we’re a world class team now and just being “good” in your position doesn’t cut it, we need to be the best and in that position we’re currently not. here’s hoping merino puts the world class performances we’re needing in that position, the role is there for him to take. but it might be a little bit too much to ask for for a player who has just arrived
Merino could be the new Edu… 🤔
I was surprised to see him played last night, but that has hopefully means he’s a quick healer!