Arsenal are in talks with Real Sociedad over the signing of midfielder Mikel Merino; Merino, who scored Spain's winner against Germany in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals, has a year left on his current deal; an agreement on personal terms is not expected to be a problem
Thursday 15 August 2024 08:54, UK
Arsenal are in talks with Real Sociedad over the signing of midfielder Mikel Merino.
There is work still to do on the deal, but the 28-year-old is understood to be keen on the move.
An agreement on personal terms is not expected to be a problem.
Merino has a year left on his Sociedad contract.
He featured in all seven games for Spain at the Euros, scoring the winner in the quarter-final against Germany.
Analysis from Sky Sports News senior football journalist Nick Wright:
Standing at 6ft 2ins, continuing a theme of Arsenal targeting physically imposing players following the additions of Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and, most recently, Riccardo Calafiori, Merino boasts formidable aerial strength as well as a knack for stealing possession.
Julian Nagelsmann's Germany found that out at the European Championship, when, following a late run into the box, another of Merino's trademarks, he produced a towering header from Dani Olmo's cross to clinch Spain's semi-final spot in the penultimate minute of extra-time.
Merino, although not a regular starter for Luis de la Fuente's side, would finish the tournament as one of only four players - along with Alvaro Morata, Lamine Yamal and Mikel Oyarzabal - to feature in all seven of Spain's games as they lifted the trophy.
"I think that tournament was a good reflection of him," Miguel Flaño, a former team-mate at his boyhood club Osasuna, tells Sky Sports.
"He is used to starting games and being very important for his club. But his role at the European Championship was something different. Although he wasn't a starter, he showed a lot of humility, understanding he could still be important in another way.
"And as we saw, he was decisive, most of all with his goal against Germany but also in the games when he didn't score. He just puts the team first and thinks about how he can help."
Merino's rise to prominence, albeit after difficult spells with Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle, is no surprise to Flaño, or anyone who knew him back at Osasuna, where, having broken into the team at 18, he was a key figure in their promotion to Spain's top flight in 2016.
"He was the soul of the team, despite being very young," Alfredo Sanchez, a former Osasuna player and assistant to Enrique Martin, the club's manager at the time, tells Sky Sports.
"He had tremendous personality and, in football terms, what you see from him now is what he was then. Very active on his left foot, adaptable to different situations, he can pass, he can beat a man, he is strong in the air, and he knows when to arrive in the box."
"Mikel was always a very complete player," adds Flaño, another graduate of the club's academy. "He is technically very good and he is tactically very intelligent because he understands football so well.
"His aerial game is valuable both in defensive and attacking set-pieces. He can really make the difference in those situations.
"And then, in terms of his mentality, he is a boy who doesn't feel pressure and has the personality to step up in important games."
