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Hello! Mikel Merino, meet Mikel Arteta. Will Arsenal’s latest signing tip the Premier League title balance?
On the way:
‘Win now’: Why Arteta added Merino to young Arsenal squad
Individual moments in international tournaments have been known to prompt spontaneous transfers, but don’t be fooled into thinking Mikel Merino’s frog-leap header at Euro 2024 seduced Mikel Arteta overnight.
Arsenal’s latest signing — all £32m ($42m) of him — was in Arteta’s eyeline long before his hanging finish binned Germany from the Euros. He figured in their recruitment plans a year ago and Arteta talked the club into meeting Real Sociedad’s asking price in this window despite Merino failing to match Arsenal’s preferred profile.
At 28, he’s not exactly bringing youth to an ageing crop of midfielders, but he’s versatile, he’s easily Premier-League ready and the key line from James McNicholas’ analysis of the deal was the point about Merino giving Arteta what the latter thought he would get from Kai Havertz — before the German was asked to play up top.
Arteta thinks long term but, in this instance, he’s looking for an immediate impact from his new recruit: that extra strand of quality and depth that yields the Premier League title. A ‘win-now’ signing. Coming your way is a midfield of Merino, Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice. Yes, please.
Goalkeepers galore, Sancho and Sterling swap?
(Pat Elmont – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Needless to say, the transfer carousel isn’t slowing down. Liverpool have finalised the signing of Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia (above), where he’ll stay on loan this season.
We’ve seen a fair old trade in goalkeepers during the summer and Sam Johnstone from Crystal Palace to Wolverhampton Wanderers is next in the pipeline.
Liverpool have also bounced very quickly from “exploratory interest” in Juventus’ Federico Chiesa to just trying to get a damn deal done. Serie A, in return, is getting Romelu Lukaku again. Napoli are taking him from Chelsea.
Manchester City, meanwhile, have raised £21m by selling Joao Cancelo to Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia (they’re pretty skilled at recouping cash) and Brighton have found another £25m for defender Ferdi Kadioglu from Fenerbahce.
Ferdi who? I hear you. The full-back isn’t much of a household name in Europe, but he will be before long if this touch and thunderbolt for Turkey in a friendly against Germany is all in a typical day’s work.
But far more intriguing than any of that are the whispers about a potential swap deal in which Jadon Sancho leaves Manchester United for Chelsea and Raheem Sterling heads the other way.
A world of work needs to happen for a trade-off to transpire, but part of me wonders if by Friday night we’ll be sitting up for that one.
Barca’s sign of the times
Barcelona have traditionally been a massive draw; an impossible move to turn down. These days, gravitating towards the Catalans feels more like walking into a shambles.
Dani Olmo took the plunge when he signed from RB Leipzig and Barca’s dysfunction was succinctly summed up by financial issues delaying his registration for La Liga fixtures.
The paperwork went through in time for last night’s game at Rayo Vallecano (albeit, Olmo might find himself ineligible again in January) and guess what? He only came up with an 82nd-minute winner (above).
Happy endings are in short supply at Barca, and yesterday’s result was severely soured by 17-year-old midfielder Marc Bernal suffering an ACL rupture which requires surgery. But for Olmo at least, this was a nice start.
📲 Live transfer blog
News Round-Up
Tonali 2.0: Road to redemption after gambling ban
(Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)
The signing of Sandro Tonali was Newcastle United flexing and living up to the narrative around them: the club with Saudi money acting like a club with Saudi money.
He did not break their transfer record, but the £55m paid to AC Milan last summer bought a classy, dynamic force. Blended with Bruno Guimaraes, Tonali gave Newcastle a Champions League midfield.
The bliss of the marriage was brief, however, and for almost a year, Tonali has been gathering dust.
In October, he was banned from football for 10 months for a catalogue of breaches of Italian betting rules. Tonight, with his suspension served, he is eligible to return in a Carabao Cup tie at Nottingham Forest, a low-profile stage for a high-profile moment of rehabilitation.
If the 24-year-old features, the appearance will be his first for Newcastle since October 25 — the day before his ban kicked in. It’s been a long road back.
Multiple offences
Tonali’s misdemeanours were numerous. Incredibly, they blindsided Newcastle completely.
Chris Waugh and George Caulkin detail here how Tonali:
- Showed contrition by asking Newcastle to cut his salary
- Trained throughout his suspension despite Eddie Howe being unable to select him
- Was restricted from parts of Newcastle’s stadium on matchdays, including the dressing room
- Received unwavering support at St James’ Park having sought treatment for gambling addiction
Quicker, sharper?
Before buying him, Newcastle tracked Tonali for months. He was a Serie A winner with Milan and his attributes, allied with those of Guimaraes, were right up Howe’s street.
Howe thinks Tonali is coming back quicker and sharper. Tonight could be the first test of that. ‘Like a new signing’ is football’s most tired cliche, but in the circumstances, Newcastle can legitimately apply it to him. Tonali’s redemption arc starts here.
📺 Nottingham Forest vs Newcastle, 3pm ET/8pm UK — Paramount+, CBS Sports/Sky Sports
Around The Athletic FC: Explained — new Champions League format
(Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images)
- The structure of the Champions League is changing to a ‘Swiss Model’. You’ll need a degree in applied mathematics to understand it (and tomorrow’s draw). Fortunately, The Athletic’s Peter Rutzler worked hard at school and can explain everything.
- Every time I read about INEOS at Manchester United, I find myself asking: do the decision makers know what they’re doing? Because as Jacob Whitehead writes here, things are not going swimmingly for its professional cycling team.
- The 2024 Leagues Cup — a mash-up of Mexican club sides and MLS outfits — finished on Sunday, with Columbus Crew taking the title. It’s getting a bit of a panning. One coach called it “a joke of a competition for the Mexican teams”. We’ll jot him down as ‘not a fan’.
- This, by Stephanie Yang, opened my eyes to Michele Kang’s influence on women’s football. Snapping up Lyon was a smart move.
- Most clicked in yesterday’s TAFC: the Noel Gallagher interview. Oasis are indeed unbeatable.
Catch a Match
Carabao Cup: Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Burnley, 2.30pm/7.30pm — Paramount+, Sky Sports; West Ham United vs Bournemouth, 2.30pm/7.30pm — Paramount+, CBS Sports, Sky Sports.
La Liga: Atletico Madrid vs Espanyol, 3.30pm/8.30pm — ESPN+, Fubo, Premier Sports 1.
German DFB Pokal: Carl Zeiss Jena vs Bayer Leverkusen, 12pm/5pm — ESPN+, Premier Sports 2.
(Top photo: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)