With reports suggesting the Real Sociedad and Spain midfielder might be joining Arsenal, we take a look at the interesting career path of Mikel Merino.
When Mikel Merino headed in the dramatic late winner for Spain against Germany in their Euro 2024 quarter-final, a lot of the reaction in England was the same.
“Is he the fella who used to be at Newcastle?”
Yes, yes he is.
But also no, no he isn’t.
Merino had already played for Osasuna, Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle United by the time he turned 22, and shortly after his 22nd birthday, he signed for Real Sociedad, where he has been for the last six years.
Now, such has been his impact in La Liga as well as in his cameos at Euro 2024, he is being linked with a move to Arsenal to be tasked with helping Mikel Arteta’s men finally overthrow Manchester City in the Premier League title race.
Merino only spent one season in England with Newcastle after being signed by Rafael Benítez, with an initial loan from Dortmund being made permanent during the 2017-18 campaign.
He made 25 appearances in all competitions, with one goal and one assist. Of Newcastle players to feature at least five times that season, Merino led the way for interceptions per 90 minutes (2.3), possession regains per 90 (9.5) and passes attempted per 90 (55.7), while only Mohamed Diamé (81.5%) had better pass accuracy than his 79.8%.
Despite that, he moved to Real Sociedad at the end of that season, where finally Merino was able to make a long-term home for himself.
Fast forward to this summer and Merino was a part of the impressive Spain team that earned success at Euro 2024 under the guidance of Luis de la Fuente, including getting his own individual moment of glory.
After coming on as a substitute in Spain’s quarter-final against hosts Germany, Merino left it late to make his mark. In the 119th minute in Stuttgart, Dani Olmo lofted a cross into the box for an unmarked Merino to contort his body and head in the winning goal.
His celebration was arguably as iconic as the goal, doing the same as his father Ángel Miguel Merino had done in the same stadium 33 years prior when he scored for Osasuna against Stuttgart, circling the corner flag.
Merino was one of only four players to feature in all seven of Spain’s games in Germany, albeit he started just once. He was a useful option off the bench for De la Fuente, with only Fabián Ruiz and Rodri winning possession more often per 90 than Merino of outfield players who featured in more than one game.
At club level, he has become a key player at Real Sociedad. He made more recoveries than any other outfield player in La Liga in 2021-22 (287), ahead even of Sergio Busquets (281), while in 2022-23 only Antoine Griezmann recorded more La Liga assists (16 in 38 games) than Merino, whose nine assists were level with Vinícius Júnior in the same number of games (33).
He also played alongside Arsenal star Martin Ødegaard in 34 competitive games for Real Sociedad in 2019-20 (2,898 mins). They were part of an impressive side that finished sixth in La Liga and won the Copa del Rey, the club’s first major trophy since 1982.
While Ødegaard moved on to become a key player in the Premier League, Merino remained in the Basque Country, though they could potentially be reunited soon.
Imanol Alguacil’s team see plenty of the ball, with the fifth highest average possession in La Liga last season (55.5%). A lot of their midfield tempo was set by Martín Zubimendi and number six Beñat Turrientes who respectively boasted open-play passing accuracy of 85.7% and 87.1%. Merino only completed 77.3% of his open-play passes in La Liga, also behind fellow midfielder Brais Méndez (81.0%).
Merino made 79 progressive passes in the league last season, with only Zubimendi (86) making more of La Real midfielders, though Merino was king of the flick-ons. No-one in La Liga recorded more than Merino’s 124 flick-ons, with Osasuna’s Ante Budimir (32) the only player in the league to get even halfway to Merino’s successful flick-on total of 47.
The 28-year-old showed with that goal for Spain that broke German hearts at this summer’s European Championship that he can be very useful in the air, and the data backs that up.
Only Cádiz striker Chris Ramos (600) competed in more duels than Merino (581) in Europe’s top five leagues last season, with the Spaniard winning a respectable 56.1% of them. The only other two players who competed in at least 500 duels to have a better than 50% record were West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus (52.5%) and Newcastle’s Bruno Guimarães (56.8%).
Merino can therefore be particularly useful at corners, which will be music to Arsenal’s ears given how much they use set-pieces to their advantage. He made the first contact on 10 attacking corners for Real Sociedad last season in La Liga, the second-most for La Real, while he also made the first contact on 14 defensive corners. Only six players in Spain’s top flight made contact with a higher percentage of defensive corners than Merino’s 10.2%, while only 11 players in the league recorded more than his 13 clearances from corners.
Many of Merino’s duels were aerial battles. Of midfielders in La Liga who played at least 15 games, only Athletic Club’s Raúl García (10.7) competed in more aerial duels than his 10.1 per 90 minutes last season, while no-one won more per 90 than his 6.1.
That could come in very handy for an Arsenal side who rely on their superiority in the air, especially from set-pieces. Merino scored three headed goals in all competitions last season; of midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues, only Benjamin André (5), Jude Bellingham, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Scott McTominay (all 4) scored more.
That said, whether Merino would have the chance to compete in many aerial duels in the Premier League is another thing. No Arsenal midfielder competed in more than 2.4 aerial duels per 90 in the league last season, less than a quarter of Merino’s 10.1.
The midfielder won possession 7.1 times per 90 last season, though, and this could be something that was noted by Arsenal’s scouting team as it was almost exactly as often as former Gunner Granit Xhaka. The Swiss midfielder won possession for Xabi Alonso’s incredible Bayer Leverkusen 7.2 times per 90 in 2023-24, so it could be that Arteta sees Merino as an eventual replacement for Xhaka, who left the Emirates Stadium last summer.
It seems likely that, should Merino head to the Emirates Stadium, he will be seen as an alternative to Declan Rice, who in the second half of last season thrived in a slightly more advanced midfield role on the left, which is primarily where Merino pops up for Sociedad.
Arsenal fans might be concerned by that 77.3% open-play pass completion rate Merino recorded last season, with Rice and Thomas Partey boasting rates of over 90% in the Premier League, while Jorginho had 89.9%. Even the more attack-minded Ødegaard recorded 86.1% accuracy.
Even allowing for the difference in playing styles between Mikel Arteta’s side and Real Sociedad, it’s not as if Merino’s low percentage was down to playing a lot of risky passes. Only 519 of his 1,402 passes in La Liga in 2023-24 went forward (37%), while 562 of his passes were in his own half (40.1%) and just 60 were classed as long passes (4.3%).
You can see from his map of passes under pressure in the Champions League compared to Rice last season that he wasn’t quite as accurate in those circumstances, though it could be a result of the latter’s teammates being more available for a pass.
It should be noted that Merino’s passing accuracy for Spain at Euro 2024 was 83.0%, which was on the lower end of La Roja’s squad but only just behind the impressive Olmo’s 83.2%.
Should he return to the Premier League, Merino will likely be determined to put to bed any notion that he was a Newcastle ‘flop’, even if that was always an unfair assertion to begin with.
Arsenal have rarely missed when it comes to transfers in recent years and will be hoping that Merino can knit things together nicely and have an impact for them, as he did for Spain this summer.
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