Yep I think it's pretty meaningless even thinking about how Merino fits in until we can play something like:
Raya
RB CB CB Calafiori / Timber
Partey / Rice
Ødegaard / Nwaneri Merino
Saka Havertz Martinelli / Trossard
Or at least something vaguely close to that.
Expecting Merino to come back from an injury that's fucked up his preseason, and swiftly fix the deficiencies we have with Øde and Saka out is naïve in my opinion.
Merino wasn't bought to do that, he was bought to be mobile and somewhat versatile, to win duels and headers and be a little bit of an added threat on Saka's inswingers, to play at 8 not 6 (read the Edu's BBQ analysis of his game if you believe otherwise) … and maybe to fix some of the issues we've had linking up the attack with Rice on the left.
Selecting Nwaneri would be more likely to address our current absences than selecting Merino, because Nwaneri can create a chance, and he's shown he can cut in sharply off the right and shoot with his left like Bukayo. Unfortunately he's 17 years old and lacks 90 minutes of endurance in his body, but I'd certainly like to see more of him till our stars return.
