For Arsenal, the immediate concern is whether Mikel Merino can play again before the season ends. In Spain, the bigger question has always been whether he will make the World Cup at all.
Right now, that remains in serious doubt.
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The uncertainty stems from the nature of the injury and from the lack of any reliable timetable since surgery.
Photo by Gabriel Kuchta/Getty Images
When Arsenal’s squad was announced for the Premier League trip to Elland Road at the start of February, Merino was missing, and it was later confirmed that he had suffered a “rare injury to his foot” requiring an operation.
The message was not that he was out for the season, but there was no clear indication of when he would be back.
Mikel Arteta has made clear that even the doctors could not put a precise timeframe on the recovery. “I think the doctors were really happy with the way [the surgery] went,” Arteta said at the time. “Now it’s the start of obviously a long process, we’re talking about bone healing.
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“So, we’ll respect the timings, and I’m sure he’s going to do everything he possibly can to speed up that recovery. The timeframes, we’re talking about months – whether it’s three, four or five, we don’t know.”
The World Cup begins on 11 June. Even if he returns before then, there is still the separate issue of match sharpness and whether he could realistically be ready for football at that level.
In Spain, the concern has not gone away. La Vanguardia this week again placed Merino among the major doubts in Luis de la Fuente’s thinking, writing: “In central midfield, the big uncertainty is the physical condition of two key pieces in Spain’s set up…The other name on De la Fuente’s mind is Mikel Merino.
“The Arsenal midfielder had become increasingly important in recent call ups, adding late runs from deep, but an operation on his foot has put his presence at the World Cup in doubt. The coach from La Rioja will wait for him until the last moment but, if he does not make it in time, he has plenty of quality options in that role, for example the Barcelona players Fermín or Dani Olmo, who do not usually start for Spain.”
Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images
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Based on the public comments and the reporting around his injury, a return in May looks like the most optimistic, and unlikely, scenario, June appears more probable, but anything later still cannot be ruled out.
There is also the fact that this is not a routine injury with a well-established recovery plan to follow.
Merino’s father described it in terms that help explain why everybody has been so cautious, saying: “It’s a stress fracture. It’s not a finger injury, it’s a little more on the inside [of the foot] and it’s an injury that’s not very common,” which fits with Arsenal’s own description of it as ‘rare’.
That was also reflected in de la Fuente’s comments shortly after the surgery. Speaking to Cadena SER on Valentine’s Day, the Spain manager struck an optimistic tone, but he was unable to offer much more. “Mikel has an injury for which there are no references,” he said.
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“We are optimistic, and so is he, but we don’t know, the doctors don’t even know, how long it will take, whether he will be back in March, April, May.”
March is done. We’re now into April and the last time Merino was spotted, he was still in a protective boot.
His Arsenal season seems over, for sure, but we still can’t say if his summer is as well.
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