Yoink.
This guy's going to be very entertaining in an Arsenal shirt.
Our two signings this summer are going to give our left flank a real Hollywood factor, it's gonna be fun to watch compared to the slightly anaemic combinations of traits we've had over there. If you take this summer's project as "fix the left" then they'll arguably do more than a top winger.
Here's a very, very thorough, by the numbers report on Merino:
https://billycarpenter.substack.com/p/scouting-mikel-merino
Don't think he'll be similar to Rice on the pitch, unless Arteta fully trains his Sociedad style out of him.
As for Xhaka, Merino's been signed to play Xhaka's version of the 8 with mobile running, but Merino is more of a loose unit in his football, and less of one in his personality. Merino quite often takes on passes that aren't on, but at Sociedad he's obsessed with moving the ball forward directly.
And he's a solid couple of levels above Xhaka in the air and in the tackle. He'll jack up our already shamefully swollen height and strength at set pieces. The tunnel shot of our team is going to vibe like Villeneuve's Sardaukar performing their weird blood ritual. We're almost unbullyable at this stage.
I suspect Rice—Merino—Ødegaard may be funky and clunky till we figure it out or do something different, but when we do see it it'll be an all action trio with bags of leadership and aggression.
