‘The flop no one wants to talk about’ – Mikel Merino risks being a €32m Arsenal failure

Mikel Arteta and Arsenal have not often got things wrong in the transfer market, with patience sometimes required to see the best of new signings, yet the start that Mikel Merino has made since his summer move from Real Sociedad has been concerning.

Things came to a head at San Siro on Wednesday in the Champions League as Arsenal slipped to a 1-0 loss to Inter Milan.

Merino was hooked by Arteta after 45 minutes, having conceded the penalty that ultimately consigned the Gunners to a second defeat in succession and a third loss in six.

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While progression is virtually inevitable with fixtures against Sporting CP, Monaco, Dinamo Zagreb and Girona to come, there are worries for Arsenal to address.

Merino’s form is one of those. For 45 minutes in Italy, he was mediocre at best.

The ridiculous non-penalty award when he was punched in the head by Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer has captured the headlines, but his poor overall performance is something no one seems to want to discuss.

Merino vs Inter Milan in 6 stats

In his 45 minutes on the field at Giuseppe Meazza, he touched the ball just 18 times, an almost unbelievably low figure for a central midfielder at the best of times, but particularly when Arsenal bossed more than 53% of possession in the first half.

But it was perhaps best he didn’t see too much of the ball. His pass success rate was a lowly 70% from the 10 he attempted. For context, the next poorest Arsenal outfield starter in this regard was Bukayo Saka with 81%, yet the winger was, of course, trying higher tariff passes to unlock the home defence. No shame there for the England man. Merino, though, must do better.

Defensively, he was OK and actually superior to Thomas Partey. Indeed, it was this area of the game that earned him any credit on an evening on which he rated just 5.6 on FootballCritic – by far and away Arsenal’s poorest performer.

But this was not a one off by any stretch. Against Newcastle and Shakhtar he posted Critic scores of 6.1 while his goal against Liverpool is surely shielding him from much early criticism.

A sunnier outlook for Merino

We’ve been here before, of course. There were reservations made over both the additions of David Raya on loan from Brentford and Kai Havertz for €75m from Chelsea last summer. Both came good and played key roles for the Gunners as they took the Premier League title race down to the wire.

Merino may yet do the same, yet the way he has started his career at the Emirates Stadium is arguably more disquieting than either of the aforementioned duo from 12 months ago.

Crucially, though, he has featured largely without Martin Odegaard to bounce off. The Norway international should bring the best out of Merino by injecting his technical qualities into Arsenal’s play, releasing the Spaniard to showcase his box-to-box qualities, yet even here he faces the obstacle of Declan Rice, who he surely will not start ahead of nor play alongside.

Merino’s journey, then, to becoming a standout at Arsenal promises to be a complicated one.