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Mikel Merino (now playing for Arsenal)

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by Disco
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Tiresias

Tiresias

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Posted

 

 

 

I’m living with a friend who came with me and the truth is that it gives me life, because getting home and being able to be with him is a joy.

 

     

 

c865f6377e6cd1d42b859f01232bc642.jpg

 

If he is that's one of the worst attempts at being discreet about it  :lol:  or could be nothing too it not really any ones business

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afar

afar

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Douglas said he has to START 20 games before the option to buy kicks in, that seems awfully high, I hope he's wrong and it 20 games played, as I can see him being used off the bench more often than not this season.

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Altamullan

Altamullan

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Posted

 

 

 

I’m living with a friend who came with me and the truth is that it gives me life, because getting home and being able to be with him is a joy.

 

     

 

c865f6377e6cd1d42b859f01232bc642.jpg

 

If he is that's one of the worst attempts at being discreet about it  :lol:  or could be nothing too it not really any ones business

If he was and disclosed it, it would present a wonderful opportunity to be the set of fans who helped someone feel accepted.

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louistoon

louistoon

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“I was very amused. ‘He comes from Spain, it has a lot of class and it’s better than Fabregas,’ That’s what it says more or less. I saw it on Twitter, I heard it and it was very funny."

     

 

He also seems to be a little confused with his gender identity given that he occasionally refers to himself with a sexually neutral pronoun.  :icon_scratch:

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Leazes_End_Mag

Leazes_End_Mag

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Douglas said he has to START 20 games before the option to buy kicks in, that seems awfully high, I hope he's wrong and it 20 games played, as I can see him being used off the bench more often than not this season.

He's by far better than Shelvey and he's proved it in less than 2 games. Criminal if he didn't start before him or at least alongside him.
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henke

henke

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Even if he's injured it'd be worth wasting a substitution on him.

 

If he's in plaster start him, boot the ball out from the kick off and sub him off. Unless it's that ginger fuckwit with the sand clock tattoo we're bringing on, in that case just let Merino stay on.

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Dave

Dave

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http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/newcastle-united-mikel-merino-interview-fans-rafael-benitez-borussia-dortmund-a7937316.html

Newcastle already feeling like home for Mikel Merino, the young midfielder who lives and breathes football

The Spaniard is relishing life in the north-east and tells The Independent how the city's fans and compatriot Rafa Benitez have made the switch from Borussia Dortmund so easy

 

Martin Hardy @mhardysport 23 mins ago

 

 

Mikel Merino was walking along the banks of the river Tyne with his mum when there came a realisation that life could be about to change.

 

For 12 months he had lived in a city centre apartment in Dortmund with two childhood friends. There, in Germany’s eighth largest city, he was anonymous. Now, at one of the cultural hubs of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, came a turning point before he had so much as kicked a ball for his new club.

 

“It was the next day after I signed for Newcastle and I was with my mum walking near the river and a lot of people, were shaking my hand and going, ‘All the best mate,’ and ‘Have a good season,’” he recalls. “I looked at my mum and I was like ‘Woah! I’ve only just joined and they know me!’ In Dortmund even on the last day they didn't know!”

 

Merino’s mum, Maide, a huge football fan, turned to her boy.

 

‘Look,’ she said. ‘The fans like you already and you've only been here for one day! They are nice people.’

 

“She loves the stadium,” he adds. “She thinks it’s a really nice city and she’s coming here normally once or twice a month. She was happy to leave her son in Newcastle.”

 

Merino, just 21, has only played two games in English football, but there is an elegance and vision that has turned heads already. He was the best player in Newcastle’s first win of the season against West Ham. His goal for the Spanish Under-21 side against Italy six days later was outstanding.

 

“It is difficult to repeat!” he laughs. “It happens a few times in your life. Don't get used to it!”

 

He knew at 12 he was going to be a footballer. His father, Angel, played almost 500 times in Spanish football. His best years were for his beloved Osasuna. He would later manage the second team.

 

“Of course it is my team,” he adds. “It is my heart. I was born there. My father is Osasuna, he is a fan, my small brother also, my mother loves football and loves Osasuna. Before I was born I was Osasuna!

 

“Due to a lot of injuries and some red cards I had to play (in a win against Barcelona B). It was incredible playing in that stadium with this crowd. It was perfect, my dream come true. For my family it was incredible”

 

He would play only two full seasons at Osasuna. By February 2016, Borussia Dortmund had made their move. He signed but played out the rest of the season in Spain, and helped the football club of his family reach the Primera Liga.

 

“That moment, look my skin, I am getting goosebumps! It was incredible,” he adds. “The last matches people thought we were not going to qualify for the play-offs but we did and in the play-offs we were like a machine. We won all the matches and beat Girona in the final, my team-mates threw me in the air.

 

“I said goodbye to the crowd, everybody was singing my name, all the love shown to me was incredible and I will have it in my mind for all my life. It was a dream, it is a film. You have to do a film and you do it like that. You cannot improve it.”

 

It made what happened next much harder.

 

“I went with two friends (Mague and Unia) to Dortmund,” he adds. “What didn't go right? The coach (Thomas Tuchel) didn't trust me. That was the main thing. That was from early. It is hard for me. I had not had enough time to show. It was two weeks, more or less. The list came out for the Champions League squad when I was with the national Under-21 team. I wasn’t in it. I was not even told.

 

“I didn't want to go for him and ask why. I went back and trained with the first team. I played eight games. I started in two or three, the rest just a few minutes. I am a really positive guy but one or two times they had to pick me up. They are my childhood friends. They made me laugh again.”

 

In the afterglow of Borussia Dortmund’s DFB-Pokal Cup victory, Merino sat with his agent.

 

“He started talking about interest that Newcastle had,” adds Merino. “Of course it is better because of Rafa Benitez. I know Newcastle is a great club, a huge stadium, the crowd, everything, the staff and the people who work here but of course Rafa being at Newcastle helps, the language, the huge trainer he is, it makes the decision easier.”

 

He signed on a loan deal that will become permanent if he completes a certain amount of games for Newcastle. That already feels inevitable.

 

Jonjo Shelvey’s stamp on Dele Alli opened the door earlier than expected for his debut, in a loss at Huddersfield. Against West Ham, in a 3-0 victory, no player made more total passes, more forward passes, produced more successful dribbles or won back possession more than Merino.

 

“The way I played against West Ham is the way I love to play,” he says. “Sometimes you can do things better or sometimes things go wrong. I will try to play my way. If things go right, okay, if not I have to work harder.

 

“My favourite position? I can play whatever you want! In Spain we call it number six, it is the holding midfielder. I can play there or number eight or number ten. I love it. I prefer to play! Rafa can choose.

 

“I can defend and attack and go to the box and have freedom to play and be wherever I have to be. The Premier League is faster than I thought but I'm getting used to that pace. I am on my way.”

 

Finding a home, too often forgotten for young footballers, has been crucial.

 

“The club is everywhere,” adds Merino. “You see people in Newcastle shirts, the stadium is near the city centre, it is a city that loves the club and loves football. I understand. The way they support the team, it is my style of club.”

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Sir Toon

Sir Toon

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Has the feeling of a younger Dieter Hamann to be honest.  Comes in as a bit of an unknown, only to impress.  Then before you know it, the season is done and he's off to another English club with a sweetener for us and a premium for Joe Bloggs Uncle.

 

The only difference here is that we dont own him yet so maybe we'll get an extra season out of him before his move to Liverpool.

 

 

 

 

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Tiotes Witch Doctor

Tiotes Witch Doctor

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Can already tell hes shaping up to be an absolute gem, its still early days despite his good start but as has been said with some players you can just tell they are going to be good from the class and movement they show on and off the ball on the pitch, and this lad fits the bill, will only get better as he adapts too which is even more exciting to think about, he could honestly be the difference between a season of struggle and a season of relative comfort.

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