I have seen both the Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Merino quotes from the Spanish national media. And must I say, it’s quite refreshing to have two players who aren’t getting the game time they want, speak so effusively about how happy they are.

The reality, of course, must be different. No player at both of their ages wants to be sat on the bench for a single minute of the game. No player wants to be linked with moves away to ‘lesser’ clubs unless they are forced to leave for more game time, and if you listen to Mikel Merino, he certainly doesn’t want that. He talked about how he feels appreciated – for both club and country, and also called us “the best club in the world” which, if you consider we won our domestic league (the hardest to win in any country in world football), plus got to the final and only lost on penalties to a team who takes half the season off anyway, I think we as Arsenal fans can argue that case right now. It’s not an arrogance thing, it’s a factual thing: We’re five points clear of a league in which newly promoted sides (like Hull) can 100% trouble the sides at the top of the league (they have already drawn with Liverpool as welln this season).

He does mention in the radio interview transcript that he is waiting to see if things can be changed, but it feels like a very throwaway quote.

And as for Zubi, he too has doused any speculation about an exit with his comments whilst on international break, again which I touched on yesterday. Enzo Fernanez, Julian Alvarez, take note. This is how you behave. In fact, just look at the Bruno situation from the summer. It was clear he wanted to leave Newcastle, it was clear that he wanted to move on, but he never said a peep. Yes, you can argue that a player can kick up a plentiful stink behind the scenes to protect his public image, but I still believe that Bruno had a respect for Newcastle and the hierarchy (as well as a gentleman’s agreement that, for a change for a football club, appears to have been adhered to by the sounds of all the reporting on it) that ensured that the move was done with little fuss in the end.

Perhaps there’s a common denominator here, which is the character of each of these players, which for Arteta we know is paramount. He wants quality players, the best players, but he also wants guys who are professional and act with the kind of integrity he demands of everyone – including himself. Despite his pesona, he is never a problem off the pitch, only once going thermo-nuclear for the Disgracia stuff at St James’ Park a few season’s back. Which, let’s face it, was a bit of a joke anyway. But Mikel has a certain kind of approach and he wants players to play for him with a certain kind of professionalism. It’s why Auba got his new contract, but then didn’t even see the end of the first season of it.

So Zubi and Merino will absolutely be wanting more game time, and I think Mikel will be communicating with them the whole time, because he’ll have been in this situation at clubs he’s played for before. So he’ll know how they are feeling and I’m sure he’ll be communicating what his plans are. And if those plans are that these players aren’t going to get that game time they want/need, then those discussions happen behind closed doors, and solutions are found either in January (which I think highly unlikely) or in the summer.

I do have a bit of a theory though, which is that I do think we’ll start to see both players starting a little more after the international break. I have no data, no intel, no “man on the inside” to confirm this. I just have a hunch. With Mikel Merino, I think the types of games that we play will affect his starting selection situation, and you look at matches like Real Madrid and wonder if – with Kai’s form maybe not where we want it – somebody like Merino might play. I’d certainly be looking at that game if I was Arteta. He played superbly two season’s back in the two-legged knockout game against them, he’s a Spanish international and so will be surrounded by his compatriots, so he’ll have extra incentive to put on a show. To me it very much feels like ‘A Merino game’ and I think there will be others like that too.

With Zubimendi, it’s not so much individual games or types of opposition, but just a hunch that Mikel Arteta will bring him in. We’ve seen a couple of instances in which Zubi has been given the nod to come on from the bench above Myles. Whilst a lot of the talk has been – rightly – about how that is harsh on Myles, I do also think it might have been done with a plan to get Zubi more minutes and then post-international break give him a shot in a game that isn’t just a ‘lesser’ opponent in which the main players can be rotated. I’ve said it before and I’ll re-iterate it again; Zubimendi was world class for two-thirds of last season. Let’s not sleep on his talent just because he ran out of juice at the end because of the volume of games we play in England.

There are still plenty of football matches to play, there will be injuries in midfield for sure, and when that happens these two players need to be ready. They are senior pro’s that have played a lot of football and won the big prizes already. They know how long a season is and how many twists and turns they are. So there’s no need to push any strop-like panic buttons whilst on international duty. And I’m glad neither of them did.