Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit has said Spanish midfielder Mikel Merino is still struggling to adjust to life at Arsenal.
Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the season after losing 2-0 to Bournemouth at The Vitality.
Mikel Arteta’s men had to play most parts of the game with 10 men after William Saliba was sent off.
The Gunners were without key players like captain Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Julien Timber.
The absence of these key players saw Arteta hand starting shirt to Merino.
The Euro 2024 winner went close to giving Arsenal the lead in the first half.
But speaking on Premier League Productions, Petit expressed concerns about Merino’s slow adaptation to English football since his summer arrival.
“For me, at the moment, Merino hasn’t totally adapted to English football. The pace and the intensity,” the 1998 World Cup winner said.
“When you play for Spain or when you play in Spain, you have some time when you receive the ball and you have a few seconds to think about it, and what you are going to do with the ball. In the Premier League, you have no time to think about that.”
Petit, however, expressed confidence that Merino will improve.
He added:”I am totally confident he can adapt himself to the Premier League.”
