Arsenal are in talks with Actual Sociedad over the signing of midfielder Mikel Merino.
There’s work nonetheless to do on the deal, however the 28-year-old is known to be eager on the transfer.
An settlement on private phrases is just not anticipated to be an issue.
Merino has a yr left on his Sociedad contract.
He featured in all seven video games for Spain on the Euros, scoring the winner within the quarter-final towards Germany.
What Merino might convey to Arsenal
Evaluation from Sky Sports activities Information senior soccer journalist Nick Wright:
Standing at 6ft 2ins, persevering with a theme of Arsenal focusing on bodily imposing gamers following the additions of Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and, most lately, Riccardo Calafiori, Merino boasts formidable aerial power in addition to a knack for stealing possession.
Julian Nagelsmann’s Germany discovered that out on the European Championship, when, following a late run into the field, one other of Merino’s logos, he produced a towering header from Dani Olmo’s cross to clinch Spain’s semi-final spot within the penultimate minute of extra-time.
Merino, though not an everyday starter for Luis de la Fuente’s facet, would end the event as certainly one of solely 4 gamers – together with Alvaro Morata, Lamine Yamal and Mikel Oyarzabal – to characteristic in all seven of Spain’s video games as they lifted the trophy.
“I think that tournament was a good reflection of him,” Miguel Flaño, a former team-mate at his boyhood membership Osasuna, tells Sky Sports activities.
“He is used to starting games and being very important for his club. But his role at the European Championship was something different. Although he wasn’t a starter, he showed a lot of humility, understanding he could still be important in another way.
“And as we noticed, he was decisive, most of all together with his objective towards Germany but in addition within the video games when he did not rating. He simply places the group first and thinks about how he can assist.”
Merino’s rise to prominence, albeit after difficult spells with Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle, is no surprise to Flaño, or anyone who knew him back at Osasuna, where, having broken into the team at 18, he was a key figure in their promotion to Spain’s top flight in 2016.
“He was the soul of the group, regardless of being very younger,” Alfredo Sanchez, a former Osasuna player and assistant to Enrique Martin, the club’s manager at the time, tells Sky Sports.
“He had tremendous personality and, in football terms, what you see from him now is what he was then. Very active on his left foot, adaptable to different situations, he can pass, he can beat a man, he is strong in the air, and he knows when to arrive in the box.”
“Mikel was always a very complete player,” provides Flaño, one other graduate of the membership’s academy. “He is technically very good and he is tactically very intelligent because he understands football so well.
“His aerial sport is efficacious each in defensive and attacking set-pieces. He can actually make the distinction in these conditions.
“And then, in terms of his mentality, he is a boy who doesn’t feel pressure and has the personality to step up in important games.”
