Mikel Arteta just said what Arsenal fans already knew about Mikel Merino

Fans hold a great love for Mikel Merino in the Arsenal striker role and it seems that such warmth also resides in the heart of boss Mikel Arteta.    

He said as much in his Brentford press conference on Tuesday when asked if Merino had managed to surpass club expectations up top: “Yes, as a striker certainly not [something he ever dreamt he could do] but that’s the thing as well that you learn when you sign a player – I knew he could offer much more than what he had, and especially after I met him for the first time because a player that has that amount of curiosity […], the way he loves his profession and football, it’s difficult to put limits to that.”

Those words only confirm what the fans have long suspected about the character, commitment and work ethic of Merino. He did not arrive as part of any secret, madcap plan to alter the Arsenal attack nor, in featuring up front, has he accidently unlocked an ever-present love/capacity for operating as the Gunners’ goal-scorer-in-chief.

Instead, his success there is borne out of hard graft and a willingness to help the team in whichever way they need him. Merino can, and has, thrived as the striker because he knew that he simply had to; Arsenal cannot hope to push for PL or UCL crowns without a recognised no. 9 for months on end and so the ‘midfielder’ made it his business to adapt to a new role.

Mikel Arteta praised the attitude of Mikel Merino in adapting to the striker role at Arsenal

It is too easy and perhaps a bit much to frame this rise as ‘inspiring’; some hard-hearted folk might even consider it to be the least one would expect from a multi-millionaire footballer. But football is also full of stories about players who failed to grab their chances, who pushed for moves elsewhere when asked to perform in unnatural roles and, sadly, saw their careers fizzle out, the lack of a ‘pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps’ mindset costing them dear.

Merino is not one of them. He is a talented and successful midfielder who caught the eye of Arteta back in August 2024 and bided his time through injuries and intense competition to cast himself as the credible striking alternative for one of the best teams in Europe.

Few people knew that he was capable of it at first but the fans are long since convinced – it appears that Arteta is too.