Mikel Merino met members of the media for the first time when he sat down for his pre-Shakhtar Donetsk press conference at Sobha Realty Training Centre on Monday.
Our summer signing was asked about how he’s settled into the club, developing as a combative midfielder, who influenced his game, his past experience playing with Martin Odegaard and more.
Here’s everything he had to say on the following subjects.
on what would it mean to win the Champions League with Arsenal:
I have been lucky enough to win a lot of trophies in my career, with the national team as well, I know the feeling and it’s something that you cannot compare with anything else. Knowing what this club is about and how big winning trophies is in general, winning the Champions League here would be amazing. Obviously, there is still a long way to go to achieve that. But I think we have the basics, we have the players, we have the mentality and that has to be the ultimate goal so hopefully we can start by winning tomorrow and keep on growing and building up for when the stakes are the final, hopefully.
on what he brings to the club:
I think we have a pretty complete team, a pretty complete coaching staff as well, they all have that winning mentality as well. They might not have the experience yet because we have a really really young team. Luckily, I’ve had some experiences where I won. So the experience when you have the moment of truth, when you’re in the final or semi-finals, to be able to keep that mentality, to keep that calmness and try to do whatever you’re doing on a daily basis that has made you get to that stage.
on playing Shakhtar:
Sitting right here, I cannot even think about what they must be feeling or what life is like. But, obviously, we are all empathetic. I wish them all the best for their careers, for their lives. Hopefully this situation stops as soon as possible but obviously we cannot control that from here. We will try to host them in the best manner possible.
on bouncing back from Bournemouth:
It’s always good when you lose a game [to play another game quickly], it’s always bad when you win because this is football nowadays, you don’t have time to think about the last game, about the last action. You always have new things coming, new challenges and it’s really good to have a game now, we can try to win, try to give our best version in front of our fans and try to, not erase because obviously we have to think about it [the Bournemouth game] and try to get better and learn from the mistakes, but to have a new feeling.
on what Mikel Arteta has said since the Bournemouth game:
For us, it is always about winning. Mikel [Arteta] knows that, Mikel’s always telling us that, we have to win in any context and the thing is, we have the team capable of doing that. We have been playing in a very challenging situation for the last couple of weeks but the coach told us he’s really proud of the effort, of how the team managed to play with one player less for almost the whole game. So it’s about taking the good things, not only the bad things, and try to improve for the next game.
on settling in at the club:
It’s been great, it’s been difficult at the beginning because nobody wants to get injured in the first session. Obviously, when you come here you want to make an impact, you want to prove why they signed you and you want to start building up that confidence and that relationship with your teammates. But I think, after the injury, everybody helped me so much, not only the players but the staff, the fans as well, I felt the love immediately and that helped me a lot to recover as fast as possible and at the same time to build a relationship with the whole team. So I feel like, right now, I’m at a good stage. Obviously not at the best one, but I’ll get there.
on seeing the best of him:
You never know, hopefully soon. But, I have still some things to do at a physical level, at a technical level. Obviously at a tactical level, there’s a lot of things that are different from my old club so it’s just a process, I’m doing the best that I can to speed it up and all the staff and the whole club is helping me a lot and, as I said, hopefully, it’s going to be soon.
on coming back to the Premier League after six years:
The atmosphere, the chants, the language, the smell of the grass, everything is the same. But football changes with time, players change with time and I think I have changed from the player I was six, seven years ago. The tactics, it’s just a completely different league now than what it was seven years ago, so it’s just a mix between the same old atmosphere, passion for football, just loving the environment. But the evolution of football in tactics and how you play on the pitch, that’s the main difference.
on how the Premier League compares to other leagues:
Well, I don’t want to talk badly about other leagues or this league, but every league has its differences; the Premier League is obviously one of the best in the world, if not the best. The quality of the players, the pace, the rhythm, the atmosphere, everything is just out-of-this-world, and honestly, I’m really glad to be here, to be playing against the best teams, against the best players. That’s what we want as a competitor to play the best, be the best and hopefully this year I can enjoy a lot, learn and grow, and for the future be an even better player.
