Arsenal have confirmed Mikel Merino will be sidelined for an “extended period” after it was revealed the midfielder needs surgery for a bone injury in his right foot. The club said the operation is necessary and that the 29-year-old will be out of action for a significant stretch.<\/p>\n
The statement did not supply a precise return date. Arsenal did, however, express the hope that Merino will be able to return to training before the end of the current season. The timing of the injury presents a problem for the squad with Monday’s transfer deadline approaching and limited time to recruit.<\/p>\n
Journalist David Ornstein has confirmed the club are looking for a potential loan signing to provide cover while Merino recovers. Rather than pursuing a high-profile permanent acquisition, Arsenal are concentrating on short-term additions who can add depth for the remainder of the season. Reports elsewhere have brushed off speculative links to Newcastle United\u2019s Sandro Tonali.<\/p>\n
With only hours left to complete business, there is no guarantee Arsenal will secure a deal before the deadline. The club faces the twin pressures of replacing a key midfield figure and managing a late-window search for temporary reinforcement.<\/p>\n
Taking to social media after confirmation of his injury, Merino, whose preparations for this summer\u2019s World Cup have been plunged into uncertainty, vowed to come back stronger. The immediate priority for the player and the club is a successful operation and a recovery plan that offers the best chance of a late return to training this season.<\/p>\n
Arsenal\u2019s short-term strategy will be judged in the coming days as the transfer window closes and the squad adjusts to the long-term absence of a player who had been expected to be part of their midfield plans for the campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arsenal brace for lengthy absence as Mikel Merino faces surgery; hunt for short-term midfield cover.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1163],"tags":[1238,1436],"class_list":["post-6408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-transfers","tag-bone-edema","tag-midfielder-injury"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}