Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino has had a trialling start to life in North London following his summer transfer.
The Spaniard was captured by Mikel Arteta and Edu Gaspar, signed from Real Sociedad following his Euro 2024 win.
Merino’s arrival at Arsenal marked his return to the Premier League, following on from his loan spell at Newcastle United in 2017/18 that was made permanent.
The midfielder was lucky to work with Champions League-winning manager Rafa Benitez during his time in the North East, where sussed out the English game on an initial loan from Borussia Dortmund.
- READ MORE: Mikel Arteta will be watching Mikel Merino closely on Spain duty after what he just did for Arsenal
Rafa Benitez’s former comments on Mikel Merino
Merino recorded 24 appearances in the Premier League at Newcastle where he impressed for the most part.
Towards the end of his time at St James’ Park, the Spaniard fell out of favour with Benitez, who expressed the bigger picture behind the reasoning for Merino’s drop in minutes.
“He has to compete and make sure he gets back in the side. We want to sign the best players, and when we have the best players here, then someone has to be on the bench,” Benitez explained, via The Shields Gazette.
Merino fell out of the side after returning from injury, where he found Jonjo Shelvey occupying his spot in the XI, something Benitez saw as a positive.
“If you want to improve as a team, as a club, then you have to have good players on the bench.
“That, for me, is a positive thing, you have a player you know could replace the other one in the side – that increases their level.
“We need players who can dictate the tempo of the game, manage the game for us, and when Mikel was playing well, Jonjo needed to work harder. Now Jonjo’s doing well, so Mikel has to work harder.”
The Liverpool icon encouraged Merino to pick up his standards and fight his way back into the side, something that worked for the Spaniard following his separation from the Geordies.
Upon leaving England and joining Real Sociedad, the midfielder rarely fell out of the XI again, learning his lesson up North to pave his way to stardom in the Basque country.
Mikel Arteta must use Merino tactic at Arsenal
Merino’s start to life at Arsenal has been far from easy, arriving and breaking his collarbone in a freak accident during his first training session at Colney.
During his recovery, the likes of Thomas Partey made themselves comfortable in his absence, handing the Spain international another instance of fighting for a place in the XI.
Arteta left Merino out of the starting lineup most recently against Chelsea and low and behold, the 28-year-old came off the bench and put in an impressive display.
Competition in the squad is what Arteta dearly needs right now and given that such tactic has worked previously with his summer signing, the manager must seek some inspiration from Benitez to get Merino up to speed.
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