Arsenal youngster Fran Merida’s agent has revealed that it would be difficult for his client to turn down a move to La Liga side Atletico Madrid. The 19 year-old is highly rated and produced a fine performance against Liverpool in the last round of the Carling Cup and also scored his first Arsenal goal.
His current contract at Arsenal expires next summer but he has revealed that he is talks over extending his stay at the Emirates Stadium. The Gunners boss Arsene Wenger rates the youngster highly but that hasn’t stopped rumours linking Merida with a move back to Spain.
Merida joined Arsenal from Barcelona as his parents thought he would have better chancing of playing football and developing somewhere else. This was due to the fact that Barcelona had so many promising youngsters coming through at the same time.
Merida’s agent Joseba Diaz told the Daily Mail: “We have an offer from Arsenal but Fran Merida has an ‘illness’, for want of a better word, and that is Atletico Madrid and you can’t do anything about that,”
Atletico have admitted that they are interested in signing the player and their president Enrique Cerezo has revealed it could be down to the player whether he moves to the Spanish side or not.
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