Arsenal are ‘very, very close’ to securing their third major signing of the summer after punting Barcelona into touch, and the Gunners have already agreed personal terms with the player and launched a verbal bid.
Arsenal have already wrapped up two major acquisitions this window, with David Raya the first to arrive following a solid loan spell last season.
The Spain international goalkeeper joined upon activation of Arsenal’s £27m option to buy. Riccardo Calafiori followed through the front door at the Emirates three weeks later.
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Calafiori, 22, cost around £42m to sign from Bologna and will bolster what was already the Premier League’s meanest defence.
Calafiori will primarily play at left-back, though will also provide more adequate cover at left centre-back for Gabriel Magalhaes than Jakub Kiwior has in recent times.
The summer spending won’t stop there, however, with transfer guru Fabrizio Romano confirming Arsenal hoped to sign Mikel Merino as soon as Emile Smith Rowe left for Fulham.
Smith Rowe completed his £27m plus £7m in add-ons switch to the Cottagers on Friday. As a homegrown player, the proceeds from that sale represent pure profit on Arsenal’s books. A sell-on clause was also included.
All eyes are now on Merino who Arsenal have already agreed personal terms on an four-year contract with.
The Real Sociedad and Spain ace, 28, is older than most players Mikel Arteta and Edu have signed of late.
The flip side of that argument is he’s ready to make an instant impact and Arsenal only need minor tweaks to overcome Manchester City if last season is anything to go by.
Barcelona had also shown interest in Merino who has racked up 28 caps for Spain since debuting in 2020. The obvious appeal of joining one of Spain’s big two clubs could have posed a problem for Arsenal given Merino is Spanish.
Arsenal swat Barcelona aside
However, according to a fresh update from Mundo Deportivo, Arsenal fans need not worry.
They state Merino ‘seems to have opted’ for Arsenal, much to Barcelona’s dismay who have now shifted their attention to alternative midfielders.
Furthermore, Basque outlet Noticias de Gipuzkoa also provided a brief update on Real Sociedad’s summer plans (Real Sociedad are in the Basque region of Spain).
Their write-up on the club’s midfield outlook for the upcoming season suggested Merino to Arsenal was a done deal.
Arsenal could sign Mikel Merino for discounted fee
Real Sociedad had initially hoped to collect around €50m/£43m when the time came to cash in.
However, Merino has entered the final year of his contract and as such, the Spanish side have been forced into lowering their demands.
Accordingly, Arsenal have thundered in with a verbal offer of just €30m/£26m prior to add-ons. News of Arsenal’s verbal bid was confirmed by both reliable reports in Spain as well as transfer guru Fabrizio Romano.
In a follow-up, Romano declared a club-to-club agreement to be ‘very very close.’
“Let me say that Arsenal are really closing in on the deal for Mikel Merino and let me clarify that the package is going to be something around €30m,” wrote the reporter.
“We’ll understand in the structure of the deal in the next days, but the agreement between Arsenal and Real Sociedad is really, really close. Everything is proceeding to the final stages.”
Whether the €30m offer will be enough to seal a deal or whether Arsenal will have to raise the stakes a little bit higher remains to be seen.
Nonetheless, what is clear are five things: Merino wants Arsenal, Barcelona aren’t a threat, personal terms are agreed, Real Sociedad are open to selling, and the Gunners won’t have to pay full price.
TEAMtalk’s features specialist, Ryan Baldi, has taken a closer look at exactly what type of player Arsenal are signing and how he’ll fit into Arteta’s plans…
