Arsenal struck gold on 32 million “Monster” which is a hybrid of Xhaka & Ramsey

Given the size of the club, it is not surprising that there are so many arsenal legends.

The tastes of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Tony Adams all won the Premier League by playing for the club and were rewarded by statues outside the Emirates.

However, as for any club, there are a certain number of players who fall below the legendary status, but who are always quite accomplished in their time at the club to become loved by fans and considered something of a cult hero.

Two of the best examples are granite Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey, and it now appears that Mikel Arteta has a player who is a hybrid of both.

Xhaka and Ramsey’s arsenal careers

Despite the concrete interest of Manchester United, Ramsey joined Arsenal de Cardiff City in the summer of 2008 for around 5 million pounds sterling.

However, barely a year and a half later, when he was trying to settle in the team, he suffered a horrible double paw break during a match at Stoke City, which kept him out of action for a little less than a year.

Fortunately, while the incident slowed down its development, the star born in Caerphilly recovered and, in a few years, was a key player under Arsène Wenger, having his best campaign during the 13/14 season during which he scored 16 goals and provided nine assists in 34 appearances.

As he left for Juventus in the summer of 2019, the Welsh legend had accumulated a count of 64 goals and 60 assists in 369 games, and more crucial, had played a vital to help the Londoners in the north win three FA cups.

Regarding Xhaka’s time in northern London, it is impossible to ignore the explosive episode under Unai Emery, in which he threw the captain’s shirt and brassard, then swore at the crowd of the Baying Emirates.

At this point, it seemed that his three -year passage in N5 would end, but during his appointment as a manager a few months later, Arteta was able to convince the Swiss international to stay.

From this moment, former Borussia Mönchengladbach slowly rebuilt his relationship with the fans base and did an excellent job that supporters outside finally sang his name to Brentford in September 2022.

This season, which would be his last in northern London, would also be at his best, because he helped direct a surprise challenge on the title, scoring nine goals and providing seven assists in 47 appearances and farewell to a delighted and grateful Emirates.

In all, although they are not club legends, Xhaka and Ramsey are both cult heroes, and it seems that Artata now has someone in his team which could be a hybrid of both.

Hybrid Xhaka & Ramsey d’Arteta

After years to build it, Arteta now has a truly world class team, one stacked by international superstars such as 32 million pounds sterling, Mikel Merino, which could be considered a hybrid of Ramsey and Xhaka.

It may seem strange at first, but the Spanish international has a lot in common with the two former arsenal stars.

For example, at its peak, the Welsh International was a lighter and average goal machine in the park, and this is something that the former Real Sociedad star begins to become.

He finished last season with an impressive count of nine goals and five assists in 44 games, and although some can emphasize that he realized it because of his time in mind, he was only lucky because the manager considered him the top scorer of the team at that time.

In addition, the 29-year-old does not very often play for his national side and found the bottom of the net for them and marked a UNREAL triple on weekends.

And its similarities with the Swiss international, however?

Well, apart from his ability to settle there with a goal, the former Gunners star was known to be an eight -hard number who prospered when he was responsible for breaking the game.

Of course, he sometimes went too far, but at his best, the new man from Sunderland was a duel machine in the north of London, which is another way of describing Merino.

For example, during his last season in Spain, he was the only player of the best seven leagues in Europe to win more than 300 duels, at 326.

In addition, its underlying numbers of the last 365 days show that it is still as effective in terms of the less glamorous side of the game.

According to FBREF, it ranks among the 2% most main fields of field environments in the best five European leagues for the air duels won and the 3% for plated in the third striker, all for 90.

Finally, the “monster” of 6 feet 3 feet, as analyst Ben Mattinson, captain of the Sociedad does, before leaving, suggesting that he too has serious leadership qualities.

In the end, he may not always be the first name on the team sheet, but Merino is an incredibly useful player to have in the team and something of an Xhaka Ramsey hybrid.