Mikel Merino is back at a time when Arsenal may need him the most, but the Spaniard has hinted that he could have “[cried] I will perish,” after suffering a rare injury that threatened his season.
Merino has been sidelined since late January after suffering a hairline fracture in his right foot that experts had never seen before. However, the 29-year-old will return to full training with Mikel Arteta’s side on Friday and said joining Crystal Palace for the final Premier League season was “a goal”. Being part of the squad that will play in next week’s Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain seems to be a growing hope for Merino, who feared the worst after the first tests on his foot.
“It’s a stress fracture in a weird part of the foot that even experts have never seen before,” Merino said. “It was a strange thing. At first I was a little nervous, I’m not going to lie. I didn’t know any examples, we didn’t have any from other people who had the same injury. We didn’t know what to expect, what path to take during recovery, and whether I would be able to play again.
“It was very difficult to be honest. My feeling was that I was playing with pain for a while [before the injury] but I did not expect that a big break would happen there. When I got the news they said I would be out for about five months, I just thought about missing the World Cup, missing the end of the season with my team and not being able to help them. I was frustrated at that time. It took me a few days to recover from it.
“I had two options, go down and cry myself to death or hold my head up, be positive, and try to use my time to improve other aspects. Working as hard as I can is how I deal with life.”
Whatever the idea, this was still a long way back, and Merino revealed that he couldn’t even walk for two months. On the bright side, that at least provided an iconic scene on his Instagram page as he ‘walks’ his dog with the help of a mobility scooter, “a fun way to see the light of day”.
Merino has proved to be a key contributor for Arteta since arriving from Real Sociedad in the summer of 2024, making 77 appearances in all competitions, including a long spell up front (creating the sort of heavy statistical profile you see below), when the likes of Kai Havertz and Viktor Gyokere were struggling with injuries. A year after joining the club, the midfielder/quasi-forward was selected for the first team leadership team. His influence on the youngsters in the dressing room, his reliability, his willingness to step into unusual roles to help the team: all those qualities his manager and his teammates highlight when they talk about the team’s most famous player.
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Add that to the real impact on the pitch that Merino has brought, 15 goals and eight assists since his arrival, and it’s no wonder the rest of the Arsenal team rallied around him as they did. After all, most of them have been in the same situation that Merino found himself in in February, fearing what their absence might do to a team that needs everything they have to prepare Manchester City for the title.
“I felt very loved,” said Merino. “I also wanted to be close to the team, support them even though I’m injured. Sometimes as a player you can be selfish there. You’re injured, you want to do your own thing, you’re only focused on your recovery.
“As an injured player, you also have a role to go through with your teammates. I tried to be close to them and found that they were also very close to me. Every time they saw me, they asked me how I was doing, if I was better, they told me that they fought for me, and that I will come back soon to help them and head the Champions League final again.
“Those conversations always give you more motivation, they make you feel included.”
Perhaps there will be time to fulfill the expectations of his colleagues. Returning to a simple session with the team on Thursday felt like “the first day of school” for Merino, who went through a routine that started with going through the coaching staff’s press and ended with crosses in the box with thundering heads. He looked like the type of player who could play a role, even on the bench, in the biggest European game the club has played in for 20 years.
“My foot is big,” he said. “I don’t even think about it anymore. I’m very happy to be out with the boys today. I’ve been training hard, on the grass and indoors with strength and fitness coaches and physios, trying to give it my all day by day to get closer to perfection when I come back to the team.
“I’m very good. I feel fit. I’m ready to go.”
Players who had to watch the final game from the sidelines often spoke of their disappointment at not being able to help. Not Merino. “I feel like I’ve won it inside as well. I’ve been through the last part of the season outside and I’ve suffered a lot, especially seeing that stretch when the team wasn’t playing well.
“But it was a pleasure to see how our teammates and fans dealt with it. This generation has been suffering for many years, coming second and hearing all kinds of things from neighbors. We finally broke free, and returning this title to the fans is very important.”
And if he needed one last chance to assess that injury, Tuesday’s title celebrations provided him with just that. “That was the acid test. If my foot can handle those jumps, it can handle anything.”
