Newcastle United completed their fifth summer signing with the addition of Borussia Dortmund midfielder Mikel Merino on a season-long loan.
The Spanish U21 international struggled for pitch-time after joining the German giants last summer, but Magpies boss Rafa Benitez believes Merino can thrive under his guidance over the coming campaign:
“Mikel is a midfielder with talent, an under-21 international for Spain. He’s a good size, has quality on the ball and he’s very, very focused and professional. Hopefully, he’s the kind of player we can improve a lot – he certainly has the mentality to get better and better. He has to show what he has, and hopefully, he can enjoy playing here for a long time.”
The History
Merino began his youth career at Osasuna and made his debut for the reserve side during the 2013/14 season.
He broke into the first-team squad the following campaign, making 29 appearances and registering one goal and four assists in the Spanish second tier.
The midfielder enjoyed another strong season in 2015/16, producing seven goals and one assist in 38 league outings, as Osasuna gained promotion to La Liga via the play-offs.
Merino then signed a five-year deal with Dortmund, but featured in just eight league matches last term, making only two starts.
The 21-year-old has represented Spain at both U19 and U21 levels, scoring two goals in 19 matches, and was part of the squad that finished as runners-up in this summer’s UEFA U21 Championship.
The Prospects
While both of Merino’s starts for Dortmund came at centre-back, the Spaniard is predominantly a midfield player, capable of operating either as a deep-lying playmaker or as a box-to-box midfielder.
In his first interview for his new club, Merino offered his own perspective of what he can offer.
“I am a midfielder with a lot of potential. I like to help my team-mates always with the ball or without the ball. I always want to attack to have the ball and score goals and to help the team to go forward. This is always my main mentality, but of course, we know that defence is a really important part of the game.”
At six foot two, Merino is strong in the air (he won over 60% of his aerial duels throughout his career at Osasuna and with the Spanish youth sides), while – as you’d expect from a Spanish midfielder – he’s very comfortable in possession, which does make him an option on the left of a three-man defence if Benitez operates with wing-backs.
Merino can spray both short and long passes with a high degree of accuracy from his trusted left foot, while he is also renowned for his work rate in the middle of the park.
The Spaniard is not blessed with a huge amount of pace, though, and he may take time to adjust to the physical nature of English football.
He did win 18 of his 19 attempted tackles last season, suggesting he’ll bring some combativeness to the Magpies’ midfield
His arrival will certainly boost the options available to Benitez.
The Newcastle manager generally favoured Isaac Hayden and Jonjo Shelvey as the central midfield pairing in his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation last term, with Jack Colback the main alternative.
Shelvey was instrumental in Newcastle’s title-winning season and, having been named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year, should remain relatively immune to his manager’s tinkering.
Merino is expected to ultimately claim a regular role at the expense of Hayden, with his ability to read the game offering protection in front of the back four.
Given that Merino may offer limited attacking threat in that role, he could come in at 4.5 in Fantasy Premier League, with a chance he may be priced at 5.0.
In the Sky Sports game, he sets you back 7.3 to Shelvey’s 8.2, though Matt Ritchie looks better value at 8.3.
Newcastle have been handed a favourable start to the season, with five promising fixtures (hud WHM swa STO bha) following the testing opening home clash against Tottenham Hotspur.
The addition of Merino will certainly provide much-needed strength in depth in central midfield, with his quality on the ball and energy likely to mean that he gets plenty of minutes.
But given that he is still in the early stages of his development, and has missed much of Newcastle’s pre-season, it’s perhaps later in the season when he is more likely to assert himself at St James’ Park.
He will likely have little impact on our preferred Magpie midfielder – the aforementioned Ritchie – who could offer strong initial value via his set-piece and penalty duties. Priced at 6.0 in FPL, the Scot returned from injury to feature for 45 minutes in the midweek win over Bradford.
