Mikel Merino is in awe of the height of his Arsenal teammates and compared them to basketball players.
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Merino himself is 6'2"Feels less imposing compared to Arsenal teammatesKai Havertz and William Saliba stand at 6'4"Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Merino is a mammoth presence in midfield and won the most duels (326) in Europe's top-five leagues last season. He considered himself one of the tallest players at Real Sociedad but after his summer move to the Emirates for £27.4million ($35.5m), he now finds himself dwarfed by several members of Arsenal’s physically imposing squad.
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At a press conference, Merino humorously compared his new team-mates to a basketball lineup due to their overwhelming height.
"It is crazy," he said. "I am in the corridors of the training ground just walking, and back at my old club I used to be one of the tallest, so everyone was smaller than me. Now, I look around and everyone is taller than me. We look like a basketball team."
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Arsenal’s set-piece dominance has become a key aspect of their game, making them a fearsome opponent, especially in aerial duels and corner kicks. suggests that Arteta has even incorporated basketball principles into his training sessions, showing his players clips to help them better use their height and create space on the pitch. During their recent Premier League match against Bournemouth, nine of their eleven starters were over six feet tall, with William Saliba and Kai Havertz leading the charts at 6'4".
Merino added: "Football now has changed and you need a strong team. Physicality is key and we need to be the most complete team possible. You need the physical aspect, the technical aspect, the tactical one, you need to be a total team to achieve big things as we want to do. It is not only about being tall and big, you need mentality. If you are tall and big but don’t go with the 100 per cent intention to win the ball, it’s just nothing. Set-pieces are a big part of the game and you can win or lose a lot because of that. We train a lot and have the physical advantage. But the main thing is the mentality and we have that."
AFPWHAT NEXT FOR MERINO?
The Gunners are preparing for their upcoming Champions League fixture against Shakhtar Donetsk as they aim to return to winning ways after a shock 2-0 defeat to the Cherries at Vitality Stadium.