Mikel Merino lifts lid on 'amazing' Arsenal training secrets amid freak injury admission

Mikel Merino believes the freak injury he suffered in his very first training session with Arsenal was a blessing in disguise.

Summer signing Merino made his debut for the Gunners in their 2-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday night, coming off the bench in the second half to play the final 25 minutes in place of Thomas Partey.

The midfielder, who joined Arsenal from Real Sociedad for over £30million in August, has had to wait for his first appearance after injuring his shoulder in training when colliding with centre-back Gabriel.

Merino has admitted that being out was mentally “tough”, however he believes it has allowed him to get up to speed quicker.

The Spaniard used the time on the sidelines to learn how Arsenal operate tactically and hopes it will allow him to hit the ground running.

“To come in here, you want to have a nice few days to show everybody what you are capable of, to show why they have put faith in you and then the first thing that happens is you break your scapula,” said Merino.

“It is tough to recover from that mentally. Everybody here in the club was really nice to me, really lovely, you could feel the love and support of everybody.

“It was such an unlucky moment. If you see the action… it’s just …I mean… I haven’t seen an injury like this ever in my career.

“But, well, these are things that happen. Obviously it was not the best timing, but at the same time I like to look at the pros, the bright side of it.

“This gave me a lot of time to think, to get to know my team-mates, to get to know the staff, to work on myself, the things that I need to do in terms of tactics, in terms of physicality and I think I am a much better player now than I was four weeks ago.”

Mikel Arteta was a key factor in Merino pushing to move to the Emirates Stadium this summer and the midfielder has revealed he has been blown away by the Arsenal manager’s methods.

Declan Rice said when he joined Arsenal last summer how he was now watching football “in a completely different way”, and Merino has also had his eyes opened.

“It’s something that is amazing, to be honest with you,” said Merino, when asked about training under Arteta.

“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.

“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.

“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.”

After making his debut off the bench on Tuesday night, Merino will now be pushing to start with Arsenal next in action on Saturday when they host Southampton.

The midfielder, who helped Spain win Euro 2024 in the summer, thinks working under Arteta will take his game to a new level and he is hungry for silverware at Arsenal.

“Winning trophies is the main thing here for everybody. They are obsessed with that,” he said. “You can see that winning is the main thing for us.

“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.”