The news comes days after Arsenal have deepened their interest in the 28-year-old. According to reports, Arsenal are very close to reaching an agreement with Real Sociedad over the Spanish midfielder with the fee set to be around 30 million pounds after their first bid of 25 million was rejected by the club.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI\u2019ve left Merino out of the squad as there are talks with other clubs\u2026and this is the best solution now,\u201d said Sociedad head coach Imanol Alguacil in the press conference.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Merino\u2019s possible addition will be Arsenal\u2019s third signing of the season after retaining the services of Golden Glove winner David Raya and adding the services of Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori to their ranks.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Arteta was asked the all-important question \u2018Does Mikel like Mikel?\u2019 in the pre-Wolves game press conference on Friday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cYou know that I cannot talk about any other players,\u201d said Mikel Arteta in the pre-game press conference. \u201cI said after last season that we had two objectives, the main one and the most important one is to make sure that we are still very much in love with our players and find ways to improve them, which is the main thing. Then if there are certain opportunities in the market, to improve the squad -- certainly we have to look at that. That\u2019s what we will be trying to do,\u201d he further added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Arsenal are trying to close the slight gap between them and defending champions Manchester City after losing out the title to their rivals in a nail-biting last-day finish in the 2023\/24 season which saw the latter win the league by two points.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cYou know that I cannot talk about any other players,\u201d said Mikel Arteta in the pre-game press conference. \u201cI said after last season that we had two objectives, the main one and the most important one is to make sure that we are still very much in love with our players and find ways to improve them, which is the main thing. Then if there are certain opportunities in the market, to improve the squad -- certainly we have to look at that. That\u2019s what we will be trying to do,\u201d he further added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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