Mikel Merino left in awe of what he saw in Arsenal training before finally making debut

Mikel Merino admits he's been impressed with the quality of Arsenal's training despite his recent injury lay-off.

The Spain midfielder, 28, joined the Gunners from Real Sociedad in the summer transfer window after months of speculation. However, he has been unable to make his debut until Tuesday night's impressive 2-0 win over PSG in the Champions League after breaking his shoulder last month.

He has spent the last few weeks watching on as Mikel Arteta's side battle to lay down an early marker in the Premier League title race - and he's been mightily impressed with what he's seen so far at London Colney.

When he was asked about his first impressions of life at the club, Merino told CBS Sports: “They do some things that I have never seen in my career. The methods they use are completely new to me, so obviously it takes some time to adapt.

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“At the same time, I think that when you get it, you are in a different level because they challenge you every single day - not only physically, but mentally. That makes you be sharp mentally and that's what you are going to find out in the game.

“I don't want to tell everything that we do, but there is no rest between one moment and the other. They are always challenging you mentally with different stimuluses. It makes you always all the time aware of what is happening around you.

“The mentality that they have here is amazing, not only on the pitch, but at the training ground and how they focus on the single things, the details, the basics.

“When I spoke to Mikel and I saw what was the plan, not only with me but the whole team, what was the culture, I felt this was the right place to be to take the next step in my career. I want to grow up, I want to learn even more - and I think this is the right place to keep improving and keep winning.”

Merino was courted by Arsenal and other clubs during Euro 2024, where he starred for Spain in their run to glory. But it was Arteta and Arsenal's desire to win trophies that won the midfield maestro over.

He explained: “For sure, that is something that helped me a lot to decide where I wanted to be. The mentality that they have here is amazing, not only on the pitch, but at the training ground and how they focus on the single things, the details, the basics.

“When I spoke to Mikel and I saw what was the plan, not only with me but the whole team, what was the culture, I felt this was the right place to be to take the next step in my career. I want to grow up, I want to learn even more – and I think this is the right place to keep improving and keep winning. Winning trophies is the main thing here for everybody. They are obsessed with that. You can see that winning is the main thing for us.”

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