Mikel Merino plan for Arsenal debut revealed after talks with Mikel Arteta over preparations

Mikel Arteta is said to have a specific plan in place for Mikel Merino's debut - in case the Euro 2024 winner clinches his long-anticipated move to Arsenal this week.

The Real Sociedad star has been consistently linked with the Premier League giants this summer and agreed on personal terms with the club last month while Arsenal have continued to negotiate on a fee with Real Sociedad.

Optimism that a deal to bring the 28-year-old to the Emirates Stadium was nearing completion was further boosted when Merino was left out of Sociedad's squad against Rayo Vallecano in their La Liga opener on Sunday, which they lost 2-1 at home.

With less than two weeks remaining in the transfer window, Arsenal will hope to finalise a deal as soon as possible. And according to GiveMeSport, Arteta already has a strategy in place to best prepare Merino for a potential debut against Aston Villa on Saturday.

Should the midfielder become Arsenal's third signing this summer, it does remain somewhat unlikely he'll be immediately placed into the starting line-up. But as per GMS, there is still a chance of him making his first appearance for the club if a transfer can be completed soon due to concerns that Thomas Partey's limitations could be exploited by Unai Emery's side.

Despite being sidelined for Real Sociedad's opening league fixture, the ex-Newcastle midfielder is believed to be hard at work to keep fit. It's understood that following Arteta's directives, he has been performing specific training drills aimed at hastening his readiness to feature at Villa Park should a move to Arsenal materialise in time.

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While the Gunners seem optimistic about clinching Merino's signature, Sociedad's manager Imanol Alguacil emphasised the player's present commitment to the Basque outfit in his pre-match briefing on Saturday. He acknowledged that Merino was absent from the team due to "open negotiations" with Arsenal but clarified his fitness status.

Alguacil was questioned regarding Merino and Martin Zubimendi's futures, with the latter having spurned Liverpool in favour of remaining at Sociedad. Declaring both players continuing presence at the club, Alguacil confirmed: "Both are here, one is not on the list and the other is in the squad."

He further insisted: "They still belong to Real and both are going to be with the team to the death. Nothing changes, I said it yesterday. Those of us who are here will go all out to win the game. And then we'll see who is there for the next one."

Arteta refused to elaborate on the prospect of landing Merino or divulge the specifics of Arsenal's strategy for incoming transfers this month. His response was: "You know that I cannot talk about any other players" before discussing what the club's plans were in preparation for the 2024/25 season.

"Before the season we had two objectives. The main one was to make sure that we are very much in love with our players and find ways to improve them because that's the main thing. Then okay if there are still certain opportunities in the market to improve the squad we have to look at that, that's what we are trying to do."

Arsenal enjoyed a perfect start to their Premier League campaign with a solid 2-0 victory over Wolves at home, with Thomas Partey impressing alongside Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard in midfield. However, it's the upcoming challenge against Aston Villa on Saturday that will truly gauge Arsenal's title prospects after Villa's own successful outing a commendable 2-1 win at West Ham.

Mikel Arteta could be without new signing Merino for the Villa clash and if he doesn't play this weekend, Arsenal fans might have to wait until their clash against Brighton at the Emirates Stadium on August 31 to see his debut, which is the last fixture before the international break.