Former Newcastle United midfielder Mikel Merino has spoken openly about his time at St. James' Park, and believes his time on Tyneside has made him into the midfielder he is today.
The Magpies signed Merino initially on a season-long loan from Borussia Dortmund in July 2017, but the move was made permanent in October, with the Spaniard signing a five-year deal under Rafael Benitez.
But just 24 appearances and one goal during that season was enough to see his two-year stay away from Spain end, as he returned to his homeland with Real Sociedad, signing a five-year deal and becoming a regular in La Liga, even winning the Copa Del Ray in 2020 against Athletic Bilbao.
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And the 26-year-old has revealed that his time abroad has aided him in has rapid progression, and explained that a change in culture, mentality, and physicality from playing in the Premier League has been an advantage to his career.
“With every single game, every single club, every manager, every country and every action, you learn something new", Merino told iNews.
"It isn’t about age; it’s about experience. It changes your mentality. At a young age you are a sponge. You have your eyes and ears open and you soak up everything without even realising. You do not know what it will be like until you get there, but that’s good.
“At Dortmund and Newcastle, everything was very physical. Not just the matches or the training, but the way the fans live through football. It made everything very intense. But then you learn to be ready for it and you have to live it too. If you don’t do that, you risk the experience passing you by. That gave me the tools to be the Mikel Merino you see today.”
This kind of transfer has been almost identical in recent years for many cubs, with young players coming to the Premier League and quite simply have failed to adapt, but have gone on to flourish in a new surrounding.
And Merino could relate to that, insisting that moving to a different country was a big change for him at a young age, but revealed he had no regrets about leaving Spain so early on in his career.
“I think that nobody can be completely comfortable with changing country at a young age, that’s not normal,” he says. “That’s when you have a lot to learn in football but also in life. And there are no excuses. You cannot say ‘Hey I’m a dumb kid away from my hometown and I need time to focus’. I can’t pretend that it wasn’t hard.
“But I’m so happy that I did it, because only by doing it was I able to make mistakes, to take the good out of every experience. I know it did that for me and I’m so happy how it has made me as a person and a player. And even when things do go wrong, if you have given your all you can sleep properly. You have no demons in your mind.”
Just as importantly, Merino believes that submerging yourself in different football cultures is how you learn to be so grateful for your career and for those experiences that football has provided you with.
“It’s all about the experience,” he says. “You try to enjoy the smell of the grass, the sound of the ball when you touch it. But in Pamplona, Dortmund, Newcastle and San Sebastián, it’s the people I met, the people who enjoyed watching us, that made me. You can give a child the best day of their year with a high-five or a photograph. That’s the greatest gift I took with me.”
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