Mikel Merino’s second passion after football has always been basketball.
The midfielder, whose mum was a dab hand on the court, may not be able to shoot many hoops these days – but he has revealed that Arsenal’s approach to executing their biggest asset has more than a striking similarity.
Their set piece dominance, spearheaded by specialist coach Nicolas Jover, has become appointment viewing and basketball has had a big impact on the strategising.
Yeah, there are similarities with basketball, there are similarities with American football as well,” Merino says before Sunday’s FA Cup third round tie against Manchester United. Set pieces is something that in today’s game is huge, is crucial. If you have the advantage of scoring or conceding a goal in set pieces, a big part of the game is at risk.
You can see the other day when we scored at set pieces, the momentum of the game changes and the other team has to maybe attack more, leave more space for us to play and be more brave. So it’s really, really important in today’s game. Everything is about details and you can learn from other spots as well.”
And while Merino, who arrived in late August but did not debut until October because of a shoulder injury, has not had that experience yet with the Gunners boss, he thinks it’s a great idea.
He added: “I haven’t seen that yet. But it doesn’t surprise me. The ways Mikel tries to engage with the players are really unique. And also they are really smart and really useful ways of connecting with the players. And it makes sense because basketball is about movement, about freedom and about switching positions. And obviously you can learn from any spot.”
Merino is also a big fan of reading biographies about basketball’s greatest figures, including Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
“Lately I’m reading a lot of books but mostly I’m interested in books that can be helpful for me. Other athletes’ books like Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan, all these biographies that can help me take something to see if I can adapt this to my game or my life and see if it’s useful for me too.”
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