Mikel Arteta hopes Mikel Merino can make his Arsenal debut next week, with the midfielder so hungry to play he is like a caged animal.
Merino injured his shoulder last month in his very first training session for Arsenal and he has been out since then.
The Spain international is progressing well in his recovery and, although he won’t make Saturday’s game at home to Leicester, he could be back in action next week.
The Gunners are taking on Paris Saint-Germain and Southampton and Merino is itching to make his debut.
“Tomorrow [against Leicester] is too soon. Next week we’ll see,” said Arteta. “He had partial training today.
“He’s been working so hard. It’s looking good. It’s about the healing of the bone and how mature that is to expose him to contact basically.
“We are trying to keep him in the cage, because he has been pushing everybody - all the physios, all the doctors, everybody!
“He is ready to go and he really wants it. I think we are comfortable now to start exposing him with contact and he looked really good in training.”
Merino excelled for Spain in the summer at Euro 2024 and played in every game as they went all the way.
Arteta is excited by what the 28-year-old, who joined from Real Sociedad for over £30million, can offer and cannot wait to see him in action.
“First, he is going to bring an unbelievable football brain,” said Arteta. "He is so intelligent, the way he decides, he occupies spaces, he makes decisions and it is very rare to see that.
“He is a really talented player in every phase - defending and attacking. He can do things that compliments really well with the qualities we have in midfield.
“[He will bring] physicality, for sure, and then he is a big threat. The moment he is in the opponent’s box, you see that he is a big, big threat.”
