Photograph: Wikimedia Commons / Bryan Berlin
Club football is finally back. Three weeks on from an embarrassing 3-0 pumping by Brighton, Arsenal host Leeds to bring a close to the longest and possibly most eventful international break.
The international break began with Manchester City being found guilty of the majority of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League, concluded with Lionel Messi bowing out from international football as the greatest ever and, in between, one of the sport’s greatest-ever goalscorers continued to steal the headlines from the bench.
After Ivan Perišić opened the scoring for Croatia, it fell to substitute Mikel Merino to score a brace, turn the game around and hold together Lamine Yamal’s campaign to be the youngest-ever Ballon d’Or winner. Without fuss, the Arsenal midfielder came off the bench four times in the Nations League, scoring three and assisting once. Take notes, Cristiano Ronaldo.
While this might have already strayed a little unserious, I continue to be staggered by the transformation Merino has undergone in the last 18 months. I still remember my sheer disbelief when the auxiliary forward came off the bench to score his first away at Leicester. His second brought more laughter than shouts of jubilation.
Memorable moments against Real Madrid, Chelsea and Newcastle have followed. Both up front and in midfield, Merino has demonstrated that he is not only one of the best in the air at the club, but one of the best strikers of the ball.
His importance for Spain is just as, if not more pronounced. He possesses a bizarre knack of being the right man at the right moment. Sid Lowe tweeted this week that Merino’s goals for Spain had come in the following minutes: 61st, 88th, 89th, 88th, 91st, 22nd, 45th, 57th, 38th, 25th, 93rd, 119th and 33rd. Half of his goals have come after the 88th minute.
I feel quite torn about Merino. On the one hand, this form should not be surprising. The World Cup winner and Premier League champion is obviously an outstandingly talented footballer. He is intelligent, versatile and, as a Spanish midfielder, is naturally composed on the ball. His cameo against Chelsea to close the game out was superb, his display against Ipswich in the League Cup a measured display of experience.
And yet, the sudden emergence of Merino’s scintillating goalscoring ability is ludicrous. Once a part-time centre-half at Borussia Dortmund and a tidy-if-inconsistent midfielder at Newcastle, the 30-year-old has matured and reinvented himself.
He should not be so clinical in front of goal and his presence should not spark such chaos in opposition defences – the gimmick seems to have gone too far. There are few footballers who provide me with moments that offer the same excitement or joy as a bundled finish or glancing header courtesy of Merino.
Merino has a strange sense of inevitability. When he was introduced against Portugal and then Belgium in the World Cup, there was always a feeling that he would be the man to score, to change the game, to drag his country forward.
After dumping Ronaldo and Kevin De Bruyne out of their final tournaments, Merino played his part in ensuring Messi did not retain his crown. He might not have scored the goal Ferran Torres did, but Merino earned himself a black eye and a winner’s medal for blocking the Argentine superstar’s late shot with his face.
With Kai Havertz picking up a hamstring injury for Germany, Viktor Gyökeres will almost certainly be given his first chance to start a Premier League game for the Gunners. Whether Arsenal fans would prefer the Swede to lead the line over Merino is unclear.
I am far from Gyökeres’ most vocal critic. I have been more patient and willing to give him time. While often seen lumbering around the pitch and wasting possession cheaply, the striker’s 14 goals in the league last campaign were important. He worked hard and was an invaluable member of the squad that was without Havertz for much of the campaign.
A hapless Champions League final appearance soured much of the goodwill Gyökeres had recovered at the latter stages of last season. There is that longing question of what would have happened had Merino been fit enough to make some sort of appearance in that gut-wrenching defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.
Could the Spaniard have got his head to a cross? Could he have scampered on a rebound? Would he have taken and scored a penalty missed by Eberechi Eze or Gabriel?
Leeds at home just six games into the season does not hold quite the same stakes, but there is a decision for Mikel Arteta to make. The Arsenal boss loves Merino, but I am not sure where he fits into the starting midfield. With Bruno Guimarães, Declan Rice, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Martín Zubimendi the core deep-lying midfielders, Merino will not start there. He won’t displace his in-form captain Martin Ødegaard as the more attacking option in the middle.
That leaves us with the centre-forward position. After countless calls made over endless months for Arsenal to sign a ‘proper number nine’, Arteta may well find himself potentially turning to Merino to fill in up top.
It feels ridiculous to still be considering Merino as a viable and the best option to start a vital Premier League game as a striker, but maybe we should not be so surprised. At what point is it accepted that Merino is one of the world’s most unique footballing profiles and will score goals, no matter what?
It could start to feel inevitable. With Merino, it always is.
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