Mikel Merino will not be in Real Sociedad’s squad this weekend as the Spain international awaits the green light to fly out to England before sealing a £30 million move to Premier League title hopefuls Arsenal.
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Imanol Alguacil’s side kick off their La Liga campaign at home to Real Vallecano on Sunday evening.
But while Real Sociedad still have Martin Zubimendi at their disposal – the academy graduate turning down a £51 million move to Liverpool this week – one player who will not feature against Vallecano is Mikel Merino.
Another of Spain’s Euro 2024 heroes, Merino is on the brink of sealing his protracted £30 million move to Arsenal.
While things have progressed slower than The Gunners would have liked – Arsenal wanted a deal to have been completed before the start of the Premier League campaign – there is still an expectation that Merino will be at Mikel Arteta’s disposal sooner rather than later.
Personal terms have been agreed for a few weeks already. Merino will sign a four-year contract at the Emirates, having informed the Real Sociedad bosses that he had little intention in extending his current deal at Anoeta.
A deal which runs out in 2025.
HITC can now confirm that Merino is waiting for the green light from La Real as he looks to back his bags and board a flight to London. The next step will be for the one-time Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle United prospect to undergo a medical before officially putting pen to paper.
Arsenal’s sporting director Edu Gaspar, meanwhile, has been in Spain recently. A full agreement is understood to be closer than ever now, even if the proposed structure of the payments regarding his £30 million deal is yet to be rubber-stamped.
Merino, who scored against Germany in the quarter-finals of the Euros, will arrive after the best and most prolific season of his career.
Criminally underrated and supremely intelligent, the late-blooming 28-year-old was labelled ‘world-class’ by future Arsenal and former La Real team-mate Kieran Tierney.
Martin Zubimendi turns down Liverpool
While Arteta should get his man, however, Liverpool counterpart Arne Slot did not.
Jurgen Klopp’s replacement opened up on Friday about the collapse of a deal that would have taken Zubimendi to Anfield.
“I’ve said many times already that our squad is really strong and it’s not so easy to find players who can help us or even strengthen the squad,” Slot said, via BBC Sport.
“Zubimendi was one of them to be fair (that he wanted). But he decided not to come. We go forward with the ones we have.
“In the background, Richard (Hughes, sporting director) is trying to strengthen the squad as he can but, unfortunately, Zubimendi decided not to come.
“He did every effort to bring him in. But, if a player decides not to come, then it’s obvious he’s not coming.”
Arsenal face Wolves in Saturday’s 3pm kick off. Riccardo Calafiori – the club’s only big-name summer signing so far – could make his Premier League bow against Gary O’Neil’s team.
