Mikel Merino was supposed to be moving from Borussia Dortmund to Athletic Club Bilbao during the summer transfer window, in a switch which made a lot of sense.
The Basque club can only recruit from a very limited selection of players, and with Merino struggling to make any real impact at Dortmund, the switch suited all involved.
But Athletic didn’t work quickly enough, and Newcastle United swooped to snatch the Spaniard. The move is initially on loan, but with a compulsory purchase clause should certain conditions be met along the way.
There wasn’t sour grapes in Spain, with it being accepted Merino had chosen to join Newcastle United due to Rafael Benitez.
Tuesday’s edition of Marca has things a little differently. Covering Kepa’s renewal talks at Athletic, Marca say the Basque club aren’t 
willing to break their wage structure too much.
It’s then stated that’s why Merino moved to Newcastle during the summer, rather than Athletic, with the insinuation being the money on offer at St James’ Park wasn’t matched in Bilbao, hence the decision.
Newcastle United fans won’t really care, it’s Athletic’s loss and they probably need to loosen that wage structure if they don’t want to lose Kepa for free in June.
