Arsenal reach Mikel Merino agreement with Real Sociedad

Arsenal have reached an agreement in principle to sign Mikel Merino from Real Sociedad.

Arsenal have agreed to pay €33.5million (£28.4m) alongside €5m in variables to secure the services of the midfielder, who is expected to agree a four-year contract plus a club option of a further year after undergoing a medical.

The Athletic previously reported that the north London club had stepped up their efforts to sign Merino, who has one year remaining on his current contract.

The 28-year-old has been a long-term target of Arsenal’s and was left out of the squad for Real Sociedad’s game against Rayo Vallecano last weekend.

If the deal is finalised, Merino will become the third player to join Arsenal this summer after David Raya’s loan move from Brentford was made permanent earlier this summer in addition to the acquisition of defender Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna.

Merino came through the ranks at Osasuna before having spells at Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle United. The Spain international joined Real Sociedad in the summer of 2018, where he has gone on to score 27 goals and provide 30 assists in 242 games for the club.

At international level, Merino has scored two goals in 28 appearances for his country and played in all seven games of Spain’s Euro 2024-winning campaign in Germany earlier this summer.

Arsenal are next in action against Aston Villa on Saturday.

Additional reporting: James McNicholas and Mario Cortegana

Analysis by Thom Harris and Jordan Campbell

The left side of the midfield has been a slight sticking point in Arsenal’s build-up across the past calendar year, particularly since Granit Xhaka left last July to join Bayer Leverkusen.

The original idea of playing Kai Havertz, signed from Chelsea in that same window, as the left-sided No 8 did not quite bring the fluid ball progression that it promised on paper.

Moving Declan Rice, another bought in the summer of 2023, into that box-to-box role has proven to be an effective solution. But this system places a lot of strain on the three starting midfielders to perform at a consistently high level as the games stack up and the pressure mounts during the run-in.

Merino’s arrival would help to lessen the burden, a dependable figure who has averaged over 40 appearances per season across his six years with Real Sociedad. He is comfortable playing in that left half-space, where Xhaka used to reside, although he is more of a box-to-box athlete than a tempo-setter from deep.

The heatmap below not only shows the extent of the ground he covers but also his increasing tendency to drop into those holes on the left to receive the ball from his team-mates.

Real Sociedad’s success after Merino’s arrival in 2018 was spearheaded by two current Premier League stars; Alexander Isak (now of Newcastle) and, intriguingly, Arsenal’s present captain Martin Odegaard. Imanol Alguacil’s side would generally settle into a 4-3-3 shape in possession, with past and future team-mates Odegaard and Merino combining as the two advanced No 8s ahead of Igor Zubeldia.

Odegaard, who was on loan from Real Madrid at the time, created nine chances for Merino in the 2019-20 season — the third-most prolific partnership in the team — while Merino made 375 passes into the attacking third in La Liga matches, more than any outfield player in the entire division.

In Arsenal’s current system, the two are likely to have the freedom to combine in much the same way.

(Top photo: Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)