Atlético Madrid presented Fran Mérida to a large gathering of fans and media at their Vicente Calderón Stadium this afternoon. The 20-year-old completed the second part of a medical and then signed a four year contract. He will become a Madrid player on July 1st, when his Arsenal deal expires.
The midfielder was then presented with his new shirt, in which he will wear his full name on the back, before attending a press conference. He was quizzed first on his departure from the Gunners.
“There are circumstances in life. I was very comfortable at Arsenal, but when I knew of the interest from Atlético then I did not hesitate. I talked to my agent and I told him of my desire to accept the offer. Wenger has always looked after me and my family since I arrived in London. I have a very good relationship with him. I am and I will be eternally grateful. Obviously he was very displeased with my departure, but he wished me luck and behaved like a gentleman.”
Mérida leaves behind the famous Enfield flat, which has been lived in by a selection of Arsenal Academy products. The notable recent occupants include Cesc Fàbregas and Philippe Senderos. Fran confirmed that Madrid was his dream club while also indicating he will get playing time in his preferred position of behind the strikers.
A UEFA tribunal is set to decide how much compensation changes hands, as although the player is out of contract, he is under 23.
Sounds like a haunted house.
“Sounds like a haunted house”
HAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!
Whaat a good Brain!
Best of luck Fran.
Will be a big miss especially if Cesc also leaves.
He wont be missed, yes technically, he was amazing Wenger like said however there is more to football that, defensively, right foot, tactically and physically was just not up to scratch.
Ah well, you can’t keep them all. I don’t think Fran would have made it here mainly due to the physical rigours of the EPL. He will do better in Spain. Good luck Fran.
Hopefully this makes Wenger more inclined to give playing time to Wilshere and the talents behind him.
good luck kid hopefully you will get more game time with atletico until Ramsey came along He was probaly the only youngster in with a chance of first team. Ramsey just took his chance when an opportunity popped up. Lets hope Ramsey doesnt return like eduardo and makes a full recovery as we were just starting to see what he was capable of until shawcross incident.
So the moral of the story is,don’t live in that house you will end up leaving arsenal.
This is story is going to repeat itself – Arsenal are signing so many promising youngsters that some are not going to make it despite being really good, especially the late bloomers.
same happens with Barca but the good thing is that we keep the best yes we will lose good players from time to time but we will keep the best
Enfield has this effect on people.
good for fran bad for us but with the talent we have in midfield I am not sweating
J do you know when is silva coming to train with us will it be in the pre season training and will he feature in the emirates cup smae goes for samuel galindo ?
any idea why we will even think of buying Rodallega?
and how do you rate Laurent Koscielny I personally cant wait for wenger to wrap up the deal for this CB he looks like a great replacement for Gallas but taller
Arsenal won’t be buying any more forwards, so that explains Rodallega. There is a famous forum where people post their own personal rumours “I saw Melo in a taxi at Highbury House” kind of thing.
Anyway the last three-four players people said we were signing have then appeared in the Daily Mail a few days after. Koscielny was strongly linked by some random poster, then it appeared in the Mail. I don’t buy it for a second.
it actually first came out in l equie which is a french newspaper and he does look like a wenger signing
wenger needs to do a better job of managing all this young talent…i have a feeling merida is about to have a period of stunning development…if wenger had done a better job maybe merida would be doing it at arsenal.
there are too many average players in the first team squad. wenger should consolidate by replacing them with proven quality and thereby opening up more slots for the young guys. diaby and denilson and too old to be potential, too average to be counted on. replace them with one Melo and you’ve got a stronger team plus a new space in the team for a talented youngster to show what he can do.
stupid comment really did you read what he said and how many times in a decade has wenger been wrong about a players talent ?
merida left because of a lack of playing time…wenger made big promises of first team football to too many young players and now he has got them all here he can’t play them all…it’s wenger’s fault…
wenger has had a lot of big successes but there’s a lot of very average looking players clogging up the ranks of the first team right now. how many times did wenger bring eboue on in attacking midfield instead of merida or vela? eboue!
he hasn’t managed these young talents properly. he’s in over his head and a lot of great young talents are about to leave us.
So sick of many first teamers being labled ‘average’. A group of 21/22/23 year olds that goas to the semifinals and quarterfinals of the Champion’s League in consecutive seasons is not an average group. Not by a longshot.
you’re the stupidest person I know
Wenger gives more chance to youngsters than any coach of a top club team if merida didnt get his chance then that wasnt because he didnt want to keep his promise but it was because he had better options in ramsey and diaby
and I firmly believe that diaby will be one of the best midifielders ina couple of years not sure about Denilson because of his size and lack of fighting spirit
diaby better than merida? you’re kidding right? never in a hundred years.
diaby gives the ball away every three touches. average.
diaby is big, french and black and merida isn’t. so diaby stays.
“diaby is big, french and black and merida isn’t.”
you’re a fucking racist you prick what is Cesc and why are we trying to keep him
what about Van Persie
I am now not even going to reply to your stupid comments you are a fucking racist
and Diaby is better than Merida
i’m not a racist, i’m just pointing out that wenger has favourites. he doesn’t always play the best players, he plays the individuals he likes best. the frenchman diaby will be more loyal to his compatriot wenger than any spaniard. so wenger sticks with him despite him giving the ball away every 5 seconds.
Gunner17,
Your explanation for not being dirty racist shit is pathetic. If it’s about him being loyal to a French player why did you mention that he was Black. What does that have to do with it, I wonder…? It has everything to do with it when your dirty, stinking, racist pig doesn’t it.
J.
How did your site get infested with so many racists rats…? Didn’t used to be that way…? You need to exterminate this site. Makes it a drag to read it!
You imply that Wenger has favorites and that black players are chosen over white ones because the blacks are his favorites.
You ignorant fucker! What about Almunia?!!!!! Why has he made us suffer for three miserable years with his incompetents, without buying a decent GK to replace…uh…could it be favoritism to the White Spaniard? Explain that to me you ignorant fucking racist!
Rosicky was far below his normal standards, and pretty much has been ever since he’s returned from long injury, yet AW continues to play him too.
Being an fucking racist would be so plausible if it weren’t for those small problems of intelligence and common sense!
Chill with the black shit, people like you have no place at the emirates…..Look at how many black players have risen to stardom as arsenal players. Just take your dirty racism and go back to your cave. PS Diaby is a MUCH different midfielder then diaby… ts like trying to compare nasri and diaby…. Merida is an ATTACKNG midfielder…in which we have an abundance of by the way… Diaby is a more box to box player with an attacking mindset that could be curbed… Merida is n attacker at heart. So comparing the two is like saying its like comparing a hamburger to a steak. So before you go on your grammar school rants, you need to ACTUALLY watch some gunners games and get back at us TRUE gooners…. Just go to sleep “Gunner” 17
the sgning of ramsey killed merida’s chances. ramsey looks quality and definitely took his chance. hopefully ramsey regains his level, and hopefuly the likes of wilshere, lansbury, and JET come through and show that they can handle the bigtime.
poor merida,
he wont play at all next season, how much has camacho played this season?
a few minutes at the end of a few matches.
I think he will do a great job for Madrid he’s technically perfect and will do great job linking up with Simao and Reyes and then he has Aguero aswell
I can see him making an impact but Merida would have left us sooner or later and in all fairness Ramsey is a level above him both in skill and maturity
good to see the respect wenger commands even with the young talent
off topic but no one is mentioning Barazite. I think he is a good player and may get a chance next season. What are your thoughts?
Biggest fan right here
I hope he gets a chance I dont want him to rot in the reserve or serve the same fate as Fonte I want him atleast imvolved in the first team and paying cup game and some PL matches
barazite got injured and only came back halfway through last year, maybe that’s why he’s gone off-radar a bit.
i think he’s a touch of class and i hope wenger involves him in the setup this year. he reminds me of pires. if wenger screws up a talent like barazite i won’t forgive him.
god stop with the wenger hate whoever is better plays its as simple as that
J
do you know when is silva coming to train with us will it be in the pre season training and will he feature in the emirates cup smae goes for samuel galindo ?
any idea why we will even think of buying Rodallega?
and how do you rate Laurent Koscielny I personally cant wait for wenger to wrap up the deal for this CB he looks like a great replacement for Gallas but taller
if rodallega comes in vela goes out…hopefully only on loan…i love vela! he’s going to be amazing!
Andrew does Laurent Koscielny have pace? His he 6ft 1 or 6ft 2?
BTW fran merida i like him as a player but henri lansbury and aaron ramsey are better all round and look more suited to the premiership.
think of him as the next vermaelen but 7-8 cms taller and maybe less robust when going for tackles
yeah we keep the best untill they are ready to go to barca
hopefully once the local and english lads come through there won’t be a problem with teams poaching our players. wilshere and lansbury and JET and simpson and their lot won’t be bothered about interest from madrid or barca. they’re gooners and they love it! wilshere’s the new messi!
if a player has been named on the arsenal.com website rumour column, he won’t be coming to arsenal! guaranteed! IT’S THE ONES WHO HAVEN’T BEEN NAMED THAT WE ARE ACTUALLY NEGOTIATING FOR!
Daily mirror are the most reliable when it comes to arsenal. Cause John cross and Steve Stammers are arsenal fans as well as good journalists.
Intresting to see Havard Nordtveit next season see how he will cope in the arsenal team
the thing that convinces me that wenger is losing it is that we are beginning to see arsenal lose players before we see the best of them…
we used to lose players after we had taken their best years, now we are losing players before they peak and even before we see what they can do.
losing flamini, merida and fabregas is massive. those are three classy players with massive potential. wenger is minding the shop but he’s half-assing it.
You have a lot interesting viewpoints, but along with a bunch of other fellow gooners you need to relax and loose the the off-season dramatics, if you don’t mind me saying so.
Regarding Merida and comparing him to other midfielders in our current squad I don’t think we’ve seen enough potential in him to start crying over his loss. I think Lansbury, Wilshire, Ramsey will be better than him in the long run. JET and Randall may also prove to be better along with even younger players that are in our squad and may come at that point when Merida would have been able to compete for a place in the first team.
I agree that both Denilson and Diaby need to raise their average game, but both have shown better quality than Merida has done. If they make their current peaks average, they will be world class.
Merida may turn out to be a flop after leaving Arsenal, just like Flamini and so many others. May I mention Reyes.. Only time will show. But loosing Merida is a far stretch from as dramatic as loosing Flamini, or Cesc ,if and when he eventually leaves..
Short sighted comment!
You use the term “massive potential” when you speak of Flamini. He’s shown “massive potential” to attach his ass firmly to he AC Milan bench you idiot! He played well for us because of the way AW taught him to play. Short of AW’s genius he reverts back to being a bench warmer.
So it’s not a matter of losing players “before they peak”, it’s a matter of AW judging them as “not worth holding onto”.
Obviously, your arguement is an easy one to make with Cesc. But Cesc is an exceptional player in every since of the word. Your talking about a player gifted and composed enough to boss a Champion’s League Final at 18 years of age. Cesc is Cesc, he will be a genious no matter where ht goes. But for the rest, your arguement is spurrious…plausible but totally false!
Your criticisms of AW actually represent his strengths. He knows when to get rid of players. Reyes…average at best since leaving us. Hleb…down the tubes since leaving us…even told Cesc not to leave and make the same mistake he did. Toure…very average season at City. Adebayor…traumatized by dodging bullets in Africa…but still a subpar season compared to what he was doing with us. Flamini…can’t get off the bench at Milan. Baptista…doing ok at Roma, but not a far better player than when he was with us. And then you’ve got the mediocrity of Bentley, Upson, Aliadierre, etc. who were all sold appropriately. Only the AssHole has continued or supassed his level of play with us since moving to the Chavs. He’s the only player I can think of that AW has sold that’s gone on to equal or greater standard of play.
So,
Players like Merida are exactly the reason why we should not continue our policy of snapping up all these youngsters, Fabregas was a real one off we need to invest in experienced players that will win us trophies.
I don’t think we need talent from overseas now. The academy is at a great level now that players from abroad aren’t really needed. Look at top three Arsenal prospects at the moment.
Wilshere, Lansbury, JET. All English, all through the academy.
It’s still exciting to take some of the bext young talents in the world though…
I really like Vela, I don’t think England is anywhere near producing a player with his endowments. Arsenal should still look to bring in the best talent in the world.
Barca weren’t happy to settle for having Fabregas and Iniesta on their books, they took Messi too.
I’m kinda worried about diakhate being a posibility, I remember how easily bendtner brushed past him and scored against dynamo in the champions league. This Laurent guy looks good and I wouldn’t mind seing curtis davies come in as backup as he’s got good ingredients to be an arsenal centre back and Wenger would brush up his game no doubt.
In my opinion Djourou is better than Ledley King but would never get the same plaudits as he’s not english, I know people would think I’m mad for saying that but King’s defensive errors don’t get highlighted until he plays on a big stage – just like with england the other day and got found out.
j you heard about the j.cole rumour to us or united
I wonder if Cole could come in and fill the void left by Cesc ?
all i want is a strong dm 1 cb and then we can take over the world
Hey J do you know what number Fran will wear at Atletico?? Just for curiousity’s sake lol
i don’t rate diaby as good enough to replace cesc but if we got joe cole in, i think somewhere between diaby, cole, nasri, arshavin and the kids we could compensate for losing cesc.
that’s still doing a half assed job of replacing cesc though.
ideally if cesc goes you want a name signing, an experienced player with a decent price tag who will come in explicitly to replace cesc. anything less is broadcasting weakness in the market.
gourcuff, van de vaart, or arteta will do nicely.
RvP loves Van De Vaart, and RvP’s seal of approval is good enough for me.
Also I really like the style of Arteta’s play. Classier than Fabregas’ in my opinion. A very underrated player.
Gourcuff is a bit like a poor man’s Kaka. Which I would still take.
AARON RAMSEY? ARE PPL STUPID OR WHAT WHY WOULD WENGER BUY SOMEONE ELSE WHEN RAMSEY HAS ADAPTED TO ARSENAL BRILLIANTLY AND WHY PAY 20 MILLION FOR VAN DER VAART, GOURCUFF WHO HAVENT PLAYED IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE AND COULD BE FLOPS.
RAMSEY FOR ME WILL BE BETTER THAN FABREGAS AND HE SEEMS TO BE RECOVERING WELL FROM HIS INJURY SO PLEASE PPL STOP COMPARIN HIM TO EDUARDO
ramsey’s great but he’s not ready to shoulder cesc’s level of responsibility and carry the team through 90% of games in a 60 game season. no way.
in 3/4 years maybe, but not the year he comes back from serious injury. not at the age of 18 or 19. he’s still a bit lightweight and inexperienced. he should be built up gradually.
i say if cesc goes we need a signing. internal replacements are not good enough to make an immediate impact.
imagine if we sell fabregas to barca for £35m and we don’t replace him. how weak and troubled will we look!
everyone and their dog will see that we have no money. when people see us using the transfer money to pay down club debts instead of buying decent replacements, they will conclude that we must be desperate for money.
they will think they can take our best players off us easily. they will think that we are not in a position to refuse offers for our players. they will tap our players up and tell them that they have no future with us because we are a selling club.
it will be a disaster if we sell fabregas and don’t replace him in a big way.
Do you guys feel like Ramsey is better than Merida? Not taking into account the fact that Ramsey has an advantage physically. Both good prospects but Merida seems the more cultured of the two to me. Like his passing game alone could dominate like Fabregas’ did when he first came.
And JS, what of Jay Simpson and Barazite? Don’t think either will make it. Barazite has scored on the last 3 pre season openers and never once has made the trip to Austria, never really involved in CC games either.
Ramsey is more suited to the premier league, definitely. I think Merida is a player who needs to have a bit more time, both on the ball and in his development. Spain will be good for him. Ramsey is ready for the premier league now. In a couple of years he’ll be very good indeed.
I remember Inter going after RvP in Jose’s first season. I can see RvP having an awesome Worl Cup and Mourinho telling Madrid to go after him. That would be a fucking disaster.
Come on Arsenal, do something big and bold so that our best players know they are in the right place to challenge! We’re so close to 5 years of domination! To screw it up now would be unforgiveable.
Ramsey has got the same passing ability as fabregas from what i have seen he can pass long and short and he can run with the ball as well can score goals and create. hes a good player to watch. Ramsey can last the season i think hes physically stronger than fabregas and hes a really good athelete so i dont see why not. The games he has played this season he has been brilliant there has been 2 games the sunderland game away and everton at home when he was playing with an illness. Hes been great for me
Fran merida is a number 10 hes not a central midfielder. He would be like a smaller, weaker version of diaby very skillfull, flair etc but will give the ball away alot and not have an end product.
Can you believe Barca valuing Fabregas at £35m? It’s ridiculous. He’s a £60m player for all the years ahead of him. As soon as he wins a trophy he’ll reach the £80m bracket no problem.
Fabregas at best will be sold for not more than £50M. You might wanna argue but Arsenal are not the best at playing hardball.
is lansbury good enough to be part of the first team squad next season? can he do a ramsey?
Lansbury is a good player yes. Is he box to box, or DM? Haven’t seen enough to comment. Certainly more of a player than Denilson.
Henri lansbury is a player i love. I think hes a future arsenal/england captain.
England dont have many good fabregas type central midfiedlers coming through apart from lansbury who is the closest thing to a fabregas england will ever have. Hes is a superb talent and hes a gooner from the north london area
Is Lansbury a playmaker?
@ Derrick, Henri Lansbury isnt a playmaker, he is a bridge like Diaby and Ramsey between the DM and AM
Lansbury and Fabregas? Not in the same league FFS.
Ramsey and Wilshere are the two shining stars for us for the next decade. Hopefully Ramsey is able to recover to his pre-injury form because I feel those two have the right blend of aggression, flair, vision along with the passing ability to dominate most midifelds. Wilshere the playmaker and Ramsey the box to box midfielder….
Arsha lansbury is a superb central midfielder big fan oh is he was going to break into the first team before gibbs, wilshere but had a serious illness.
I remebe him in the euro under 17 tournament best player for me and he was up there with the likes of eden hazard and bojan krkic who have played first team football for thier teams. Lanswbury has been unlucky with injury and illness but now hes back he will play for us i am sure.
Wenger said he will be a big big player for arsenal.
AND IT WOULD ALSO BE BRILLIANT IF LANSBURY COMES THROUGH BECAUSE HE WAS THE FIRST TO COME THROUGH WENGERS NEW YOUTH POLICY OF DEVELOPING BRITISH PLAYERS IN A 10 YEAR PLAN
The first? I think Gibbs, Wilshere, and Eastmond have already broken through, more or less.
Sure but if he was that good he should have lit up the Championship with Watford but he didn’t. I’m not saying he’s not going to make it, just that Ramsey and Wilshere have shown so much more on a bigger stage. And I’ve heard that Lansbury is cocksure and has the wrong attitude. I’d love it though if he did make it…imagine Wilshere, Lansbury and Ramsey….Eastmond, JET behind with Aneke,, Oyzakup on the way…brilliant. Looks like Arsene’s factory is starting to churn out its quality produce.
Arsha Kieran gibbs was a flop at Norwhich now he looks an Arsenal, England left back now.
Loans are for younger players to get stronger and get ready to play 2,3 games a week.
I have no doubt lansbury will be a superb player for arsenal and for England. Hes a rare talent he can see a pass straight away almost like fabregas. Hes got eyes on the back of his head and he can score goals from anywhere from 50 yards to 15 yards. His shooting accuracy is pretty good and hes got drive, determination, passion, leadership for me hes like gerrard, fabregas hes similar to ramsey
Arsha like many ppl lansbury was going to break through arsenal at 16 he was on the bench for the carling cup at 15 he was going to break fabregas record and cause of that illness he had his development stopped for 1-2 years plus he had alot of niggling injuries. But now after 3 years he looks physically stronger and sharper now i expect him to go on now and show what a massive talent he is.
Lansbury for me good be a big player for us next season
Fair enough. At the end of the day we want the best for Arsenal and if that means Lansbury or Wilshere or whoever making it then fantastic.
I liked him, but was that because he was from Barca that led to the hype. He did not quite take his opportunities and thrill us with his talents. If he was that good do you think we would have let him go. He has already said he prefers the slower pace of the more technical Spanish League as opposed to cut and thrust of Premiership. Translated means he is chubby, has no passion and is too slow for Premiership,