As first reported by David Ornstein of the Athletic, Arsenal have agreed a fee with Real Sociedad to sign midfielder Mikel Merino.
The fee is believed to be £28.4 million (€33.5 million) with up to £4.2 million (€5 million) in variable add-ons.
Merino has just one year left on his contract with los Txuri-Urdin and was left out of their squad to face Rayo Vallecano at Reale Arena last Sunday, with manager Imanol Alguacil confirming this was due to ‘open talks with other clubs’, as noted by Simon Collings of the Evening Standard.
Fabrizio Romano on Twitter added that Merino has agreed personal terms and will sign a four-year deal in North London. Romano also says that the midfielder ‘only wanted Arsenal’ and is set to travel to London to undergo his medical.
HITC claims that Arsenal have already scheduled Merino to have his medical on Friday, so expect this transfer to be finalised soon.
Who is Mikel Merino?
After starting his career at Osasuna, his home town club having been born and raised in Pamplona, aged 20 Merino moved to Borussia Dortmund, but spent just a season in Germany, making only nine appearances for die Schwarzgelben.
The 6ft 2in midfielder was loaned to Newcastle United before signing permanently for then Magpies boss Rafa Benítez, but similarly appeared on only 25 occasions for the Toon Army, his sole goal a towering headed that proved to be a last-minute winner against Crystal Palace in October 2017.
The following summer, Merino moved back to Northern Spain, joining Real Sociedad for around €12 million, and he’s been with la Real ever since, appeared 242 times for them, helping the club win the Copa del Rey back in 2021, starting the 1-0 final victory over fierce Basque rivals Athletic Club at Estadio de La Cartuja.
At international level, he won Olympic silver in 2021 before also hoisting aloft both the UEFA Nations League and European Championship trophies in the last year or so, coming off the bench in both finals, his key contribution to Spain’s success this most-recent summer an extra time winner against Germany in the quarter-finals.
As outlined by Sid Lowe of the Guardian, Merino’s celebration, which saw him spin around the corner flag, was a tribute to his father Ángel Miguel Merino, who’d performed the same celebration after scoring at the same stadium 33 years earlier during a UEFA Cup tie between Osasuna and Stuttgart.
Where will Mikel Merino fit in at Arsenal?
Mikel Merino is coming in to Arsenal to essentially replace Granit Xhaka, 12 months after the Swiss international departed for Bayer Leverkusen.
Initially, the plan was for Kai Havertz to fill the now infamous ‘left eight’ role, completing a midfield trio featuring Declan Rice at the base and with Martin Ødegaard drifting over to the right.
However, it turns out Havertz is much more effective as a number nine, starting there against Wolves on the opening weekend, with Thomas Partey in midfield; both the Ghanaian and Jorginho, aged 31 and 32 respectively, are out of contract at the end of this season, so that area of the pitch will need refreshing and replenishing.
As noted by OptaJoe on Twitter, Merino won more duals (326) than any other player across Europe’s top five leagues last season, while only Cádiz’s Chris Ramos won more aerial duals: 174 to 168.
In that context, this signing makes total sense, because if there’s one thing we learnt from Arsenal All or Nothing, Mikel Arteta loves winning duals!
