What Mikel Merino has done at Real Sociedad on Saturday morning after Arsenal reached agreement to sign him

Arsenal’s summer transfer window is now kicking into action with only two weeks remaining until the deadline at the end of the month.

Mikel Arteta has only seen one player added to his squad for the season opener on Saturday against Wolves.

Riccardo Calafiori will be available for Arsenal at the Emirates but he does mark the only signing made by Edu Gaspar this summer.

But the work is going on behind the scenes to get signing number two of the summer over the line ahead of the deadline.

And it seems as if the Brazilian’s hard work has paid off with Arsenal having reached an agreement with Real Sociedad for Merino.

There has, however, been one slightly surprising development on Saturday morning involving the Spain international.

Mikel Merino of Spain celebrates scoring his team's second goal during the UEFA EURO 2024 quarter-final match between Spain and Germany at Stuttgar...

Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images

What Mikel Merino did with Real Sociedad after agreeing Arsenal deal

Arsenal have now agreed a fee with Sociedad for the midfielder but the final discussions are taking place on how the deal will be structured.

Arteta is believed to be a huge fan of Merino and has really been pushing the club to sign him this summer.

But on Saturday morning, there may have been an unexpected development with Merino following the agreement on the fee for his move to Arsenal.

According to Sociedad presenter Hodei, Merino was training with the La Liga side on Saturday morning despite being so close to his move to England.

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And this is perhaps the sign which Arsenal fans will think finally confirms just how close the deal is to being completed for Merino.

What Mikel Arteta has said about signing Mikel Merino

Ahead of Arsenal’s game against Wolves on Saturday, Arteta was questioned by the media about potentially signing Merino before the end of the month.

But the Arsenal boss remained coy as he remained clear he would not speak about players of other teams.

‘You know that I cannot talk about any other players,’ he said.

‘Before the season we had two objectives. The main one was to make sure that we are very much in love with our players and find ways to improve them because that’s the main thing.

‘Then okay if there are still certain opportunities in the market to improve the squad we have to look at that, that’s what we are trying to do.’