Mikel Merino: Arteta Is 'One of the Best Managers in the World'

Mikel Merino believes Mikel Arteta's openness with his players is one reason he ranks among the world's best managers.

The Arsenal midfielder has spent more than two years working with Arteta and has been asked to do plenty in that time, from his usual midfield role to filling in at centre-forward when injuries left the squad short. Merino has now explained what the relationship is like away from the matches themselves.

Speaking on the latest episode of Sign Up on TNT Sports, he said: “My relationship with him is is very well is very good. I mean I'm really honoured and blessed of you know sharing the pitch with him every single day.

“He's probably unarguably one of the best managers in the world and because I personally love football and I don't know if in the future I would like to become a coach, every single day I take the chance of you know absorbing as a sponge everything that he says because you know he's an open book and he always wants to make people understand what his vision is.”

Merino may not have definitively committed to the idea of coaching in future, but said he is using his time under Arteta to learn as much as possible.

He has already been asked to take on several different roles since joining from Real Sociedad. His spell up front in his first season was the clearest example, but his position has continued to change as the players around him have. He has also been trusted with greater responsibility, captaining Arsenal in the Carabao Cup win at Ipswich Town last month.

Arteta was asked about Merino after that game and offered significant praise, describing him as “one of the most intelligent players” he has worked with.

“He’s unbelievable. First of all, he’s one of the most intelligent players that I’ve seen, I’ve worked with,” Arteta said.

He also spoke about Merino's ability to occupy several positions, link with teammates and arrive around the penalty area, before adding that the midfielder “thinks about everything” and “thinks about everybody”.

The respect clearly works both ways, although Merino's thoughts on Arteta go far beyond the usual praise a player might offer his manager.

Arsenal went into this season as Premier League champions, but Merino believes Arteta's message has not been about defending what they had already won.

“I think the message is to attack the season. I think the manager has made it very clear. Some people think that because we are the actual current winners, we need to defend our title and we need to defend our position. But the mentality is the opposite. So we are planning on, you know attacking every single match day as is as it is the most important one and give the best version of ourselves.”

Merino has already experienced Arteta's management through a title race, an injury-hit season and a title-winning season. Winning the Premier League has presented a new change for the season.

Among the changes in scenarios at Arsenal, Merino has also seen a number of changes within his role in the squad, giving more than one view of Arteta who he now ranks among the world's best.