Romano reveals player ‘in London’ for medical with Arsenal ‘prepared to attack’ for second signing
Arsenal will prioritise Real Sociedad midfielder Mikel Merino after they complete the signing of Bologna’s Riccardo Calafiori, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The Gunners are expected to complete the 45 million euro (£38million) signing of Calafiori in the coming days, with the Italian to fly out to the United States to meet his new team-mates on their pre-season tour when everything is finalised.
Calafiori will become the club’s second signing of the summer after making the loan deal for Brentford’s David Raya permanent for £27m.
The 22-year-old is naturally a central defender but is expected to play left-back in Mikel Arteta’s side, whilst being able to provide cover for Gabriel Magalhaes as a left-footer.
After bolstering his already incredible defence, Arteta is expected to prioritise signing a new defensive midfielder.
Arsenal have been linked with both Merino and Spain team-mate Fabian Ruiz, currently at Paris Saint-Germain, though links with the former are a lot more concrete.
Merino’s Real Sociedad contract expires next summer and the Spaniard is looking for a new challenge while being able to secure a transfer fee for the club.
It has been reported that Sociedad want £21m for their midfielder and Arsenal are willing to pay that.
The former Newcastle United loanee will likely come in to play as a No. 6, allowing Declan Rice to push further forward.
Arteta already has Jorginho and Thomas Partey available in that position, however, the latter’s injury problems make him very unreliable.
Merino is also attracting interest from Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, though the Blaugrana’s financial problems will make it difficult to strike a deal, especially as they also work on the signings of Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig and Gunners-linked Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams.
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Reports suggest that Merino would rather play in the Premier League for Arsenal than for Diego Simeone’s Atletico and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano says the 28-year-old will be ‘attacked’ by the Gunners after finalising Calafiori.
Romano wrote in his CaughtOffside column on Sunday morning:
It’s finally Riccardo Calafiori time for Arsenal – the player is in London, everything is okay between Arsenal and Bologna in terms of exchanging and sending all the documents, they are signing the contracts, and then Calafiori will have his medical in London.
Calafiori will then travel to the US to link up with Mikel Arteta’s squad and sign his contract until 2029, with no option for a further season beyond that. He’s set to earn €4m a season as a new Arsenal player, it’s all set to go through.
After that, Arsenal will focus on Mikel Merino. Arsenal have been having conversations on the player side and they are prepared to attack the situation on the club side as well once they’ve completed the formal part of the Calafiori deal. There’s still no official bid from Arsenal to Real Sociedad, while we also know about interest from Spanish clubs Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
Still, Arsenal are preparing their move, with Merino remaining high on the Gunners’ list as they prepare to focus on strengthening their midfield, though he’s not the only one being considered. Merino is one of the names they like, and then we’ll have to see how conversations with Real Sociedad will go.
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