“They give me strength” – Player reveals ‘very hard’ Newcastle times still helps him to this day

Real Sociedad midfielder Mikel Merino has admitted he still uses his disappointing spell at Newcastle United as a valuable life lesson.

Merino joined Newcastle on a one-year loan deal from Borussia Dortmund in 2017, with the Magpies spending €3m to get him for the season.

He would make the move to St James a permanent one for €7m the next year but did not remain in the Northeast for long, quickly completing a permanent transfer to Real Sociedad for €12m eleven days after his arrival.

His spell with Newcastle is not one that is remembered with any great enthusiasm, having managed 25 appearances in all competitions but just one goal and one assist.

His time there followed on from a similarly disappointing spell at Dortmund, for whom he managed just nine appearances in all competitions after arriving as a youngster from Osasuna.

Rather than letting those low years ruin his career, though, he has gone from strength to strength with Sociedad, for whom he is now a key player.

And when questioned on Cadena SER about his experiences in Dortmund and Newcastle, he insisted they taught him a valuable lesson.

“Despite the fact that they were very hard times, whenever I’m asked about it, I always say that I give them a very high value,” he told them.

“In these moments when you feel, well, that you are failing, that maybe things are not going as well as you expected at the beginning and well, you have a lot of doubts and a lot of not very positive things in your head.

“But you have to get yourself out of your head. And look for the light. And in that case, that’s what I did, to keep working, to be professional, to learn from the experience.

“And well now, when things go a bit wrong for me or when things aren’t going well, I remember those moments and they give me strength to be able to move forward.”