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Newcastle United already regret not replacing Mikel Merino
Mikel Merino stood out as a huge talent during the first six months of his Newcastle United career. This led to the Magpies activating the clause to make the deal permanent at the end of 2017.
However, after that, his form declined rapidly, and he struggled to start matches regularly during the second half of the season.
It was still a surprise when the Spaniard left the club during the recent summer transfer window. Merino opted to return to his native country and signed for Real Sociedad.
reported that Newcastle were powerless to stop Merino leaving due to a release clause in his contract.
That said, the failure to find a suitable replacement was a huge mistake. Mohamed Diame and Jonjo Shelvey established a good partnership last season, but the lack of good competition has led to both being less effective.
Ki Sung-Yueng joined from Swansea City, but he hasn’t hit the ground running. Furthermore, he is a different profile of midfielder compared to Merino.
Their poor recruitment over the summer has led to a difficult start to the season for Newcastle. The failure to sign a like-for-like replacement for Merino is just one of the mistakes that the club are now suffering for.