If that's the case we should fail fast, and promote Merino to 9 or get some other donkey to play upfront. He's not going to be effective for us so it's not worth it. Sell him to Chelsea or some other pl team who might find his basic skill set more suitable now while there's still possible value to be extracted before he gets too old.
*By donkey I mean a player who is more of a work horse and whose physical ability/ hold up play is considered more critical than run repeatability or finishing ability.
I think even a striker like Haaland would struggle if he were playing under Arteta. Control ball 101.
