Mikel Merino Officially Leaves Club

Newcastle have officially announced the departure of Midfielder Mikel Merino to La Liga Club Real Sociedad for a fee of £10million.

The £10million fee is said to be a release clause that was activated by the La Liga Club. It does raise concern that a young Spanish player had such a small release clause, but I am not surprised considering Lee Charlnely was the mastermind behind the deal.

The Midfielder was signed after his loan to buy clause was activated in the beginning of last season and the team paid around £6million for his services. The Spaniard made 24 appearances, 14 of which were starts for the club. Fans were of course really excited for his future after a string of good performances, including one against Renato Sanches and Swansea City

An injury sidelined him for a while, and he lost his starting spot alongside Shelvey. His frustration with coming off the bench and not getting many chances to start are believed to be the reason why he has since moved on. This is of course a similar reason to why he might have left Borussia Dortmund, a move that made more sense considering they have an absolutely stacked midfield with the likes of Shinji Kagawa, Christian Pulisic, and Julian Weigl. At Newcastle he was competing with Mo Diame and Isaac Hayden, two midfielders that likely would not be starting on a lot of the other Premier League teams.

Sociedad are obviously gaining a good player and we wish him nothing but the best in La Liga. However, It would not surprise me if Merino leaves there if he is not given the opportunity to play.

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