The numbers behind what Merino brings to Arsenal

Having started his career by playing in three different countries by the age of 21, Mikel Merino is someone who certainly loves a challenge - and that is exactly the same on the pitch.

Our new summer signing has gone from strength to strength during his six seasons in Real Sociedad’s midfield, and while the likes of Martin Odegaard, David Silva and Martin Zubimendi have featured alongside him at points, Mikel has been a constant.

What has always been on display is the box-to-box midfielder’s competitive nature, and when you dig into the stats the numbers back that up.

Last season, no player won more duels than Mikel did across Europe’s top five leagues, and in fact it wasn’t even close. His nearest rival was Bruno Guimaraes from his former club Newcastle United, who was 41 behind him despite the Spaniard playing five games less.

In fact, no midfielder in England, Spain, Germany, France or Italy’s top-flights competed more often with an opponent for the ball than Mikel, who battled for possession 581 times - an average of over 18 times per game. Only one other player - Cadiz striker Chris Ramos - could surpass that total - and again he played five more times than the Sociedad man - while Merino won back possession 7.1 times per game on average.

Given his 6’2” stature, Mikel also led the way when it came to midfielders in the air, winning 168 aerial duels. No player in La Liga could match his 124 flick-ons, with 47 of them proving successful - again a league-high. Given our prowess from set pieces over recent seasons, it seems we’ve recruited another useful weapon to our dead ball arsenal.

But it’s not just in defence where Mikel has excelled in recent years. Last season was his best goalscoring season, and only Spanish international striker Mikel Oyarzabal netted more than Mikel’s eight goals for a Sociedad side that finished sixth in La Liga.

The season before, only Antoine Griezmann recorded more assists (16 in 38 games) than Merino, whose nine put him level with Vinicius Junior in the same number of games (33). He has 25 goal involvements in all competitions over the past two seasons as he continues to get better as he heads into his peak years.

If you need further evidence of his influence at both ends of the field, his heat map from his La Liga outings last term shows that he is more than willing to cover every blade of grass, having been used mainly on the left of a central midfield trio.

All these numbers prove that the Euro 2024 winner is ready to battle for his place at Emirates Stadium - something La Liga’s midfielders can attest to.