OPINION
Newcastle United should not worry about losing the talented Mikel Merino this window as his reported reason to desire a move shows he is not right for Rafa Benitez’s revolution.
The 21-year-old defensive midfielder is on course to exit St James Park, according to a report by Spanish publication AS, after Real Sociedad agreed a £10.5million fee with the Premier League side for the player’s services.
It is believed that Merino has indicated that he will put pen to paper on a five-year deal with the La Liga club in order to swiftly end his time with the Magpies.
While fans will rightly worry that another amazing talent was heading out of St James Park, with no replacement in sight, they shouldn’t be upset as his reason to desire a move proves he is not worth their time.
According to a report on the potential transfer by the Daily Mail the midfielder is willing to move as he wishes to get more football.
While this is normally a warranted and justified reason for a player wanting out of a club, Merino was hardly wrongly starved of chances at the Magpies or dropped for no reason.
The 21-year-old was seen 25 times in his debut campaign for the club last season and after getting off to a flying start in his Magpies career, an injury quickly derailed him.
Merino didn’t seem to shake off the effects of his injury quickly and Benitez had no choice but to avoid using him regularly in 2018 as he was putting in some woeful performances and was a liability.
Yet while he was only given a handful of minutes in the Magpies’ final games of the season, the 21-year-old should have been willing to buckle down this summer in order to force his way back into the first-team.
Instead he has jumped at the first opportunity that he possibly can to get out of the club and that proves he doesn’t have the right character or work-ethic needed to excel in a Benitez’s side.
Merino at the age of 21 should have known he has time on his side and could have easily battled his way being a guaranteed first-team starter given his talents if he upped his game in pre-season and the early weeks of the 2018/19 campaign.
However with his exit now looking inevitable, fans mustn’t worry about the club losing him as based on his reason for wanting a move he would have just become a toxic presence at the club very quickly.
