I'd be fine with Merino if the price was right (less than 20m) and if we were also bringing in another more dynamic midfielder and his role was as more of a squad player who could bring our floor up. But I will be very disappointed if he is the sole midfield addition this summer.
In terms of the midfield, I think we really need to either go big for a top top option like Guimaraes, Joao Neves or Frenkie De Jong or address in the aggregate with complementing skill sets. Combinations like Onana (physical duel winner) and Fabian Ruiz (passing oriented playmaker) make sense to me in providing a lot of flexibility for next year. It's a shame that Zubimendi won't leave Sociedad because a combo of Zubimendi and Eze (or Gibbs-White) would be perfect to me.
