New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS): Arsenal’s transfer target Mikel Merino has been left out of the squad by Real Sociedad ahead of their La Liga season opener against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.

The news comes days after Arsenal have deepened their interest in the 28-year-old. According to reports, Arsenal are very close to reaching an agreement with Real Sociedad over the Spanish midfielder with the fee set to be around 30 million pounds after their first bid of 25 million was rejected by the club.

“I’ve left Merino out of the squad as there are talks with other clubs…and this is the best solution now,” said Sociedad head coach Imanol Alguacil in the press conference.

Merino’s possible addition will be Arsenal’s third signing of the season after retaining the services of Golden Glove winner David Raya and adding the services of Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori to their ranks.

Arteta was asked the all-important question ‘Does Mikel like Mikel?’ in the pre-Wolves game press conference on Friday.

“You know that I cannot talk about any other players,” said Mikel Arteta in the pre-game press conference. “I said after last season that we had two objectives, the main one and the most important one is to make sure that we are still very much in love with our players and find ways to improve them, which is the main thing. Then if there are certain opportunities in the market, to improve the squad -- certainly we have to look at that. That’s what we will be trying to do,” he further added.

Arsenal are trying to close the slight gap between them and defending champions Manchester City after losing out the title to their rivals in a nail-biting last-day finish in the 2023/24 season which saw the latter win the league by two points.

Merino could prove to be a solid addition to the North London team as a left-sided central midfielder would potentially help the team’s midfield Anchor Declan Rice plays in a slightly deeper position giving more freedom to Odegaard and the rest of the forward line.