Merino rejects new contract offer amidst Arsenal strong interest

By Danong and 1970s Gooner

One of Arsenal's major needs is to sign a talented midfielder who can join Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard to form a dream midfield trio.

In recent months, Arsenal has been linked with several elite midfielders including Merino's teammate Zubimendi who has however declared his intention to stay at Real Societad.

Mikel Merino is the player Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is now actively targeting and in an attempt to persuade the midfielder to join his project the Arsenal manager spoke with him over the phone. It is reported that the club has offered him a deal of a lifetime to move to the Emirates.

Martin Odegaard who collaborated with the midfielder in Sociedad's engine room in the 2019/20 season could also potentially influence his decision to move to North London.

However, there is no guarantee that the player will move to the Emirates Stadium. 

In fact, both Barcelona (who are willing to offer their defenders in swap deals to clinch the deal) and Atletico Madrid are interested in the Real Sociedad star, who may be available for as little as £17 million.

A significant reason for his low valuation is the fact that he has one year remaining on his contract. And according to Mundo Deportivo he has rejected an extension.

As much as we want Merino to join Arsenal what can he bring to Mikel Arteta's midfield?

The Sociedad midfield standout, who is a fantastic box-to-box midfielder, is capable of filling Xhaka's 22/23 LCM role.

His strong aerial presence will improve Arsenal's box-crashing skills and further increasing its goal threat especially from set pieces.

Mikel Merino is a defensive beast; he has won the most duels (326) in Europe's top seven leagues. And he was rightfully assessed as the highest-ranked centrral midfielder in La Liga last season by WhoScored.

Summarily, Merino's stats last season were as follows:

 • He made 79 tackles, which ended up being 2.86 tackles per 90 minutes.

 • He attempted 581 ground duels, but as highlighted above, he won 327, which is 11.85 duels per 90 minutes.

• He won 170 aerial duels, which was 6.16 per 90 minutes.

We refer to Declan Rice as Mr. Reliable, always available when called upon and never missing a game. Given that Merino is virtually always fit and has only missed 13 games in five seasons is music to Arteta's and every Arsenal fan's ears.