Arsenal plotting move to land £34m "duel monster" who's like Rice

After an intense month of international football at the Euros and Copa América, clubs now have about a month to go out and get the bulk of their transfer business done before the season gets underway and, in some cases, in the way.

Arsenal must get their recruitment right in the coming weeks, as they’ll be looking to finally dethrone Manchester City from atop the Premier League at the third attempt.

Luckily for fans of the Gunners, recent reports have seen them linked to an impressive midfielder who’s previously been likened to Declan Rice – oh, and he just won the Euros.

Arsenal transfer news

According to a recent report from The Telegraph, Arsenal are ‘plotting a move’ for Real Sociedad star Mikel Merino. Further reports from Spain (via Sport Witness), even suggest that they are willing to step up their pursuit of the midfielder.

Alongside the Gunners, the report claims that Aston Villa are interested in the Spaniard, but it’s the North Londoners who are the biggest concern for La Real at this point.

The report also reveals that to get their man, the Premier League runners-up could offer him the ‘contract of a lifetime,’ and with reports from Italy claiming that he’s available for just €40m – £34m – that doesn’t seem too outlandish.

In all, the interest from Villa may complicate things ever so slightly, but it appears Arsenal are well-placed to bring in Merino this summer, and based on his performances for Sociedad and Spain, that seems like great news – the comparisons to Rice are just a bonus.

Merino’s comparisons to Rice

Now, before we look at why Merino would be a great signing for Arsenal, let’s first examine this comparison to Rice and where it comes from.

It mainly stems from FBref, who, in the 2021/22 campaign, looked at all the players in the Europa League, compared those in similar positions and then created a list of the ten most comparable players for each person.

In doing this, they concluded that the Englishman was the seventh most similar midfielder to the Spaniard in the competition.

Merino & Rice
Stats per 90	Merino	Rice
Non-Penalty Expected Goals & Assists	0.22	0.25
Shots	1.23	1.31
Key Passes	0.70	0.90
Live Passes	55.3	54.7
Goal-Creating Actions	0.35	0.21
Tackles Won	1.40	1.20
Passes Blocked	1.23	1.30
Successful Take-Ons	1.58	1.30
All Stats via FBref for the 21/22 Europa League Campaign

The best way to see this is by looking at their similar underlying numbers, such as non-penalty expected goals and assists, shots, key passes, live passes, tackles won, passes blocked, successful take-ons and goal-creating actions, all per 90.

However, even if the 28-year-old wasn’t comparable to the former West Ham United captain, he’d still be an excellent signing for Arteta, and the main reason for that is his ability to win duels in the middle of the park.

For example, according to Squawka, the 6 foot 2 titan won 326 duels last season and was the only player across Europe’s top seven leagues to win in excess of 300, lending real credence to data analyst Ben Mattinson’s description of him as a “duel monster.”

Ultimately, with Arsenal in need of marginal gains next season to finally end their two-decade title drought, signing Merino to play alongside Rice and Martin Odegaard in midfield seems like a brilliant idea, especially as at £34m, the fee needed to secure his services isn’t unreasonable.