He's definitely good enough to play there as a sub or in games against lesser opponents.
The team's set-up also plays a big role in how the players perform. The Rice-MLS midfield has had the best balance it's been for most of the season and that enabled players to play well. As soon as White went off and Arteta started tinkering with the midfield, we lost the balance and MLS and the forwards slowly grew out of the game.
Put Merino in a better balanced midfield and he'll do better is what I'm saying. Same with Havertz at 8. They've just been crammed next to players that mess up the balance of our midfield/team, so it's no wonder they perform worse then they both do up front.
