Newcastle United midfielder Mikel Merino is reportedly on the verge of leaving St James’ Park this summer.
Merino has endured a mixed first year at St James’ Park. He initially joined the Magpies on loan, but the deal was quickly made permanent after the 21-year-old made an incredibly promising start to life with the club.
However, he became a much more peripheral figure as the campaign continued and made just one start and five appearances in total after January. The fact that Newcastle’s second-half of the season was superb and proved a key reason behind their top-half finish in their first year back in the top flight certainly did not help his cause.
Love Island World Cup: If EVERY contestant was a 2018 World Cup team
And now it appears that the defeat to Watford in May may prove to be his final appearance for Newcastle. The Daily Mirror reports on its live transfer blog (20/06; 19:26) that Merino is set to leave for Real Sociedad in a £13 million deal once the Magpies have signed a replacement for him.
When Merino’s loan deal from Borussia Dortmund was made permanent last year, it would have seemed unthinkable that Newcastle would consider letting him leave for £13 million following the end of the campaign.
However, if Rafa Benitez has a tight budget to work with this summer, then a deal seems to make a lot of sense as Merino did fall down the pecking order as the campaign wore on and it did not seem to have any negative impact on Newcastle’s form.
It may come as little surprise however if, in the future, Newcastle fans feel that the club ultimately agreed to a very poor price for the midfielder as he appears to have the potential to be a very good player indeed. In the short-term though, a move looks set to benefit all parties.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
