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Mikel Merino says that he’s been taken aback by the height of Arsenal’s squad, saying ‘we’re like a basketball team’.
The Spanish midfielder joined the Gunners from Real Sociedad over the summer in a deal worth £31.6million.
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A physically imposing midfielder who stands at 6ft 2in, the 28-year-old is used to standing tall on the pitch and is now one of a number of Arsenal players who stand over six-foot tall.
He said: “Sometimes it’s crazy because I’m in the corridors of the training ground just walking and back at my old club I was one of the tallest so I was walking and everybody was smaller than me.
“Now I look around and everyone is taller than me – we look like a basketball team now!”
Merino added: “Football has changed now 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 and the tactical one – you need to be a total team if you want to achieve big things like we do.
“It’s not only about being tall and big, but more about the mentality.
“If you’re big but don’t go with 100 per cent intention to win the ball it’s nothing, so the main thing is the mentality and I think we have that.”
Using that physicality is a big part of Arsenal’s game plan now following the appointment of set piece coach Nicolas Jover, whom Mikel Arteta has labelled ‘the best in his field’.
However, after being caught out by a clever corner against Bournemouth in their 2-0 defeat on Saturday, Merino talked up the importance that set plays can have over a season.
“Football is evolving and set-pieces are, too” Merino said.
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Arsenal’s land of giants…
- William Saliba 6ft 4in
- Kai Havertz 6ft 4in
- Gabriel 6ft 3in
- Neto 6ft 3in
- Riccardo Calafiori 6ft 2in
- Declan Rice 6ft 2in
- Mikel Merino 6ft 2in
- Takehiro Tomiyasu 6ft 2in
- Jakub Kiwior 6ft 2in
- Ben White 6ft 1in
- Thomas Partey 6ft 1in
- David Raya 6ft 0in
“Everybody is paying a lot of attention to them.
“It is a big part of the game and you can win or lose a lot of games because of that.
“Here we try to train it a lot. We have the good staff and good players to do that and the physical advantage is something that if you try to get 100 per cent out of it, you can win a lot of games.”
Arsenal are next in action against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday night, before facing Liverpool on Sunday in the Premier League.