𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏

Mikel Merino on whether being a super sub frustrates him: "I mean, I can't say that it's disappointing when they're saying something good about you. If I was playing, I would have, I mean, if I come as a sub, I want to do as good as I can. And if they're telling me that I'm doing a good job, it's something I take pride in. It's not easy to come off the bench, and it's not easy for players at this level that we are either World Cup winners or Euros winners, or we come from clubs that we all play regularly, to adapt to a new role and context. "But this is what football is nowadays. You can't win big trophies or be alive in every competition till the end if you don't have a very deep squad. And we all have to fulfil our roles. That doesn't mean that I'm happy with the role I have or the role my teammates have. It's about trying to do your best, whenever you have the chance of playing. And if you do your best, you're gonna have more chances to play. And then who knows, maybe you, you're a regular starter." Then asked: "And just among the guys that aren't playing regularly in the Premier League, is there that sort of determination among you to get into the Premier League team because, you know, you want to be starting matches?" "Yeah, absolutely. That's the determination that we all have as players. We are very competitive and we want to play every single game. The ones that are starting regularly want to keep playing. The ones that are on the bench, they want to come on and make the difference and start the next game. So that's massive competition that you need in a squad to push each other as teammates. And that's what we did all last season. And you could see that every player that came on the pitch did their job. And in the end, we won the Premier League because of that."