Mikel Merino’s potential move to Arsenal is already creating challenges for Real Sociedad, with their manager admitting the midfielder is irreplaceable.
Merino has agreed to join Arsenal, and the Gunners remain in negotiations with his current club to finalise the transfer.
Since returning from holiday after winning Euro 2024, Merino has been notably absent from Sociedad’s plans for the new season.
He missed their pre-season games and was not involved in their opening league fixture.
This absence signals his impending departure from the Spanish club, with Arsenal being the only team he has agreed to join.
Despite Merino’s desire to move to the Emirates, Sociedad is still playing hardball in negotiations and is unlikely to make the transfer easy for Arsenal.
Following their 2-1 home loss to Rayo Vallecano, Sociedad’s manager commented on the situation, acknowledging the difficulty of replacing such a key player.
Imanol Alguacil said, as relayed by Noticias de Gipuzkoa:
“It is clear that there are no two players like Le Normand and Merino, and Real will not be able to replace those players with the same level.
“And I won’t even tell you if Zubimendi had left. There’s a reason Arsenal want Merino and Liverpool were willing to pay Zubimendi’s clause.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
His manager’s confession is yet another reason why we have to sign Merino. He is a quality player whose absence is already being felt at his present club.
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I figured the manager would say he wasn’t needed against Rayo and is a bum player that is worth even less than Arsenal are offering.
But even now, Arsenal still haven’t signed him despite Edu’s trip to the Basque Country.
The latest report is that his club are holding out for the full £30m fee. Presumably they have calculated that as the deadline is approaching, Arsenal is unlikely (having invested so much time and effort now in pursuing Merino) to go for any Plan B at this stage. It will be interesting to see if they do force us to pay the full price.
What mystifies me is that clubs can go in for a player and 2days later he’s having a medical with the fee agreed. Once Califiori said yes to Us it took a further 17 days to get across the line… why,I ask myself and if Merino is the player that we need just pay the money. We seem to go through each window not knowing what the plan is – and this is the same