Mikel Arteta
Mikel Merino has revealed that an injury suffered last season sparked fears over an early retirement.
The Arsenal midfielder fractured his foot in January but his recovery was far from straight forward.
4Mikel Merino suffered a serious leg fracture earlier this yearCredit: Getty
4The injury left Merino sidelined for four monthsCredit: Getty
Merino’s injury was so severe that doctors were left stumped by it.
The 30-year-old underwent surgery where two screws were inserted into his left foot, but there were wider concerns on how effective the intervention would prove to be.
“The specialist who did the scan had never seen a stress fracture in that part of the foot,” Merino said.
“He’d been doing this for 30 years. He had called five of the best specialists in the world, and none of them had seen it either.
“Nobody knew how my foot would recover, or if it would recover at all. Part of me feared that I would never play football again.
“I put all the meat on the barbecue, as we say in Spain. They told me they could drill two screws into my foot to give it support. I was like, vamos, put ’em in.”
Merino miraculously regained full fitness ahead of the World Cup and helped fire Spain to glory in July.
He scored a late winner in the 1-0 round-of-16 victory over Portugal and repeated the feat in the quarter-final win against Belgium.
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Blinded by Lionel Messi
Merino featured in the final against Argentina but finished the match with an eye injury when Lionel Messi’s shot struck him squarely in the face.
“I went down like I’d been shot, which I had,” Merino told The Players’ Tribune.
4Merino tasted world cup glory alongside Arsenal teammates Martin Zubimendi and David RayaCredit: Getty
“I got hit so hard that I was actually blind in one eye for the rest of the match. For a moment, I was really worried.
“But when the whistle went, I just felt this surge of relief, because we hadn’t messed it up. And then this image appeared in my mind.”
Merino remains on the fringes of Arsenal’s starting XI and is yet to start a Premier League match this season.
The midfielder has played just 82 minutes across the Gunners’ six league fixtures.
However, he did play the full 90 minutes of Arsenal’s Carabao Cup win at Ipswich.
Despite his lack of game time, he has continued to show his worth to the Spanish national team, registering three goals and an assist in the recent four-game international break.
Following his double against Croatia, Spain boss Luis de la Fuente said: "I will tell you this, we have the best players in the world in their positions, and Mikel is one of them. He can play for any team in the world,"