Merino was left out of Real Sociedad’s first game of the season on Sunday, with Arsenal in negotiations to acquire his services. Arsenal sporting director Edu has flown out to Spain to work on the deal after he became Mikel Arteta's top transfer target following the arrival of Riccardo Calafiori.
Negotiations now centre on the transfer fee involved after La Real turned down Arsenal’s first bid of €25milion (£21.3m). The Spanish side are holding out for €35m (£30m) for the 28-year-old midfielder, who has one year left on his contract.
Arteta has personally spoken to Merino to convince him to move to north London and has a connection to him, having been born in San Sebastian and played for Real Sociedad himself. There is also another useful connection for Arsenal, whose captain, Martin Odegaard, played alongside Merino in the 2019/20 season while on loan from Real Madrid.
Odegaard contributed four goals and six assists in 31 La Liga appearances that season, while Merino got five goals and an assist in 36 games. Arteta wants to reunite the two of them at Arsenal while adding in Declan Rice to the mix.
The plan would be to field Merino as a No.8 alongside Odegaard, with Rice behind them. That would address the major issue in Arsenal’s midfield at present, where holding players Thomas Partey and Jorginho are both in the final year of their current contract.
Arteta has certainly been turning on the charm to try and get his way, with Real Sociedad president Jokin Aperribay confirming talks on Monday. “Mikel already told us that he feels very much like a Real fan, but that if a Premier League team came, he wanted to fulfil his dream. Merino was clear that he didn't want to say he was renewing and then leave," Aperribay told radio station Onda Vasca.
“Unfortunately, one of the teams we didn't want to show up showed up. When I was in Japan, Olabe (sporting director) told me that Arsenal had called. I wish it had been earlier or that they hadn’t called at all.
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“We will talk to Arsenal and defend the interests of Real Sociedad. When we consider that the offer is good, we will say yes. We know what Merino's wishes are, so we decided not to call him up."
Merino starred for Spain in their triumphant Euro 2024 campaign but Arsenal have had an eye on him for much longer. After years of scouting, it seems as though they are now closing to sealing a deal to make him an Arsenal player.
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