Merino reveals he 'laughed' at the suggestion of being played as a striker
Mikel Merino has opened up on how he was told by one of the Arsenal analysts that he would be deployed as a striker on the day of their game against Leicester, where he scored two after being subbed on.
“We’re on a training camp in Dubai and Kai Havertz unfortunately gets injured. There’s a plague of injuries and we don’t have any attackers,” Merino said in his interview with The Guardian.
“On social media, even from friends, I was seeing messages about me playing up front and just laughed. I’m thinking ‘the things people come up with’, ‘the stuff they invent’.
"But during the morning stroll before the Leicester game, one of the analysts mentions playing as a forward, a false nine: drop to receive, ‘fix’ the centre‑backs. He asks how I feel about it, was I OK with it? And I said: ‘Whatever you need.’”
