Arsenal‘s Mikel Merino says the foot injury he suffered earlier this year could have ended his playing career.
In January, the Spain international came off the bench in Arsenal’s 3-2 loss to Manchester United at the Emirates.
The midfielder scored to make it 2-2 before Matheus Cunha scored the late winner. He had suffered a foot injury against the Red Devils and went under the knife.
This forced him to miss the rest of that season and was an unused substitute in the Champions League final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in May.
In the summer, Merino made it to Luis de la Fuente’s squad and won the World Cup with La Roja. He scored the late winners in Round of 16 against Portugal and against Belgium in the quarter-final.
Arsenal player opens up on injury ordeal
In May, Mikel Merino revealed that his surgeons were doubtful of him recovering on time for the World Cup.
He said: “Even surgeons had doubts because there weren’t many similar cases. It’s what caused me the most stress was not having a clear plan. I’m someone who likes to understand what’s happening and know the path forward.”
Luis de la Fuente has the 30-year-old in his squad for the ongoing international break, and this gave La Sexta an opportunity to interview him. The focus is on the foot injury, his recovery and what he learnt from this.
Having put this difficult situation behind him, the Arsenal man talks about how he had to accept the situation.
“When you suffer a blow like this, you have to accept, that life isn’t always going to be all smiles,” he said.
The World Cup winner had to fight hard because there was uncertainty whether he could play again.
“There’s going to be a moment when you’ll have to fight against the uncertainty of not knowing if you’ll ever play football again,” Merino explained.
“It taught me how to deal with frustration. That opened my eyes, made me accept that I’m not just a footballer and that there’s much more to life.”
Arsenal star puts injury woes behind him
The former Real Sociedad man has featured in every fixture at the World Cup, mainly as a substitute.
This season, Mikel Merino has played 236 minutes from seven matches, of which 81 were in the Premier League. It looks like he has put the injury ordeal behind him.
It makes sense for Mikel Arteta to manage his workload, especially considering his injury and the busy summer with Spain.
