Mikel Arteta says one of his Arsenal players has done something that’s truly shocked him

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Mikel Arteta will have no complaints about how his Arsenal squad have been performing early in the 2025/26 season.

Many believe Arsenal can win the Premier League title this season, which would represent the first since Arsene Wenger’s 2003/04 Invincibles achievement.

Arteta’s side aren’t too far behind the Invincibles this season, losing only one game so far and scoring freely in the Premier League. 

Part of the reason why Arsenal have been able to make things tick in the final third is because of how the goals are shared, with Mikel Merino emerging as one of the Gunners’ most deadly assets.

Mikel Arteta praises Mikel Merino’s surprising impact at Arsenal 

While Manchester City are reliant on Erling Haaland, Arsenal are seeing their goals come from all places.

The impact Merino’s scoring form has had on the squad is incredible, most recently flexing his clinical streak by netting the decisive equaliser against Chelsea.

Now, Merino has given Arteta a selection dilemma which could keep summer signing Viktor Gyokeres out of the starting XI, a situation that even the Arsenal manager wouldn’t have anticipated in his wildest dreams. 

Speaking to the media in his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Brentford, Arteta admitted that he didn’t expect Merino to become a striker when he signed him.

“A striker certainly not, but that’s the thing as well, that you learn when you sign a player,” the boss said.

Arteta went on to share an insight into how hard Merino works behind the scenes, making his success unsurprising.

“I knew that he could offer much more than what he had, and especially after I met him for the first time, because a player that has that amount of curiosity and the amount of questions that he has.

“How willing he is to learn constantly, the way he loves his profession and football, it’s difficult to put limits to that, because when someone wants to grow every single day, is that determined, that hungry to win and evolve and to be part of something? That’s very powerful, and Mikel certainly has that.”

At Arsenal, Merino is considered to be one of the most intelligent players when it comes to delivering tactically, with his hard work clearly paying off.

Merino has been doing his homework to become a reliable striker

Arteta’s comments indicate just how hard Merino works in training to improve.

It’s something that the player himself lifted the lid on after his goal at Stamford Bridge, revealing to Sky Sports that he’s been picking his teammates’ brains about the art of being a number nine.

“I tried to ask them if they can give me some tips about positioning in the box and staying on the right side of defenders,” Merino said.

“I try to take information from every game, every action, every striker I see on TV. That helps me.”

The work that the Spaniard is putting in makes the results unsurprising, despite how shocked Arteta has been to see the striker in Merino come out.