Arsenal seal $42.8m deal for Mikel Merino: What will the Real Sociedad star bring to the Gunners?

Arsenal and Real Sociedad are finalizing a deal worth up to $42.8 million for the permanent transfer of Mikel Merino, according to CBS Sports sources. The Spain midfielder is expected to travel to London once the club-to-club agreement formalities are completed. Once there, he will complete his medical at the Gunners’ London Colney training base and then sign a four-year contract, which includes a 12-month option.

Talks between Arsenal and La Real heated up last week after La Real admitted Merino would not sign the contract extension they were hoping to agree on a contract that was due to expire at the end of the season. The central midfielder was left out of the squad for the season opener against Rayo Vallecano last week, with coach Imanol Alguacil acknowledging the imminent departure of a player he described as “the best midfielder in La Liga”.

CBS Sports first reported Arsenal’s interest in Merino in July, with the 28-year-old European champion fulfilling the Gunners’ desire to add starter-level talent to Mikel Arteta’s squad. The former Newcastle and Borussia Dortmund man could prove to be exactly that, a player who has recorded more than 2,000 La Liga minutes in each of the last six seasons, consistently featuring in Spain’s top six. His form at club level has been rewarded with 28 caps for Spain, for whom he scored the winning goal against Germany in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals.

Aerial prowess is one of Merino’s greatest strengths. Over the past three full La Liga seasons, only two players – target forward Joselu and Vedat Muriqi – have won more duels in the air than the 6-foot-2 midfield man from Pamplona. If, as is expected, Merino sees the majority of his minutes as a ‘left eight’ in Arsenal’s midfield, he will have plenty of opportunities to use those qualities in opposition penalty areas, deploying Kai Havertz to make late runs into the box before he proves himself more adept at centre forward.

Merino hasn’t been tasked with creating spectacular attacking plays most of the time at Real Sociedad, averaging 1.34 shots per 90 over the past three seasons, nor have his passing numbers been particularly eye-catching. However, the Spain international has generally been deployed in a role that would be expected for Arsenal. He’s recognised as a player who sits between a deep conductor and a more orthodox playmaker, Martin Zubimendi and Braice Mendes for La Real, Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard for Arsenal.

That means filling the flanks, keeping the ball moving, winning it back and contributing in helpful areas. His average of 4.49 ball recoveries in the midfield third is bettered only by Sergio Busquets and Geoffrey Kondogbia. His shot numbers may be quite low but Merino gets himself touches in the box and last season only Mendez and Takefusa Kubo were involved in more of La Real’s possession sequences that ended in shots. Merino has an odd set of skills but a player who can receive the ball in the box, win it back in defence while not shouldering too much of the possession burden is what Arteta spent the last two seasons trying to get from Granit Xhaka and Havertz.

Given the success Odegaard has enjoyed in his time at the Gunners, it was no surprise to see Arsenal return to San Sebastian this season. Their scouts were regularly at the Anoeta Stadium, tracking the progress of Zubimendi, Ander Barrenetxea, Merino and their own loanee Kieran Tierney.

Arsenal’s interest in Merino is believed to be linked to a string of impressive performances as Real topped Champions League Group D. By the time he left for Euro 2024, Arsenal’s interest was well-founded and Merino knew it too, although it wasn’t formalised until the former Newcastle player returned from a post-tournament holiday. Given Arsenal were not short of midfield options at the start of the season, there was no rush to force a deal. However, La Real ultimately got a premium price for a veteran player in the final 12 months of his contract, including a guaranteed fee of $37.2 million.

For this amount, Arsenal are at least strengthening their midfield options further. It may well be that very soon Merino is the established left eight and Rice returns to the role based in midfield where he began his time with the club. This could lead to difficulties. Rice’s possession qualities are sometimes underrated, but he is not a progressive passer like Jorginho or Thomas Partey. Playing Oleksandr Zinchenko at left back could mitigate this somewhat, but Arsenal’s summer spending of over $130 million also includes Ricardo Calafiori, who will compete with the Ukrainian, Jurion Timber and Takehiro Tomiyasu for minutes on the left flank.

However, these are luxury problems for Arteta, which are comfortably offset by the potential merits of his new midfielders. Imagine, for example, that an opposition breaks through Arsenal’s first line of press, led by the tall Havertz and the precise Odegaard. Their reward for doing so would be to run into Rice and Merino, two six-foot-plus dynamos who dominate their encounters year after year. On a good day for the Gunners, another would also do well to see William Saliba.

Aggression and dominance have been the watchwords of Arteta’s tenure, so much so in fact that they were displayed on the scoreboard at Emirates Stadium before matches last season. Merino is going to help his new manager turn those words into action.