{"id":22235,"date":"2026-02-02T09:32:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T09:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/02\/arsenal-midfielder-merino-needs-foot-surgery-but-should-be-fit-for-the-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T09:32:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T09:32:25","slug":"arsenal-midfielder-merino-needs-foot-surgery-but-should-be-fit-for-the-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/02\/arsenal-midfielder-merino-needs-foot-surgery-but-should-be-fit-for-the-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal midfielder Merino needs foot surgery but should be fit for the World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>LONDON (AP) &#8211; Spain midfielder Mikel Merino should be fit for the World Cup after a &#8220;long term&#8221; absence from Arsenal due to a right foot injury.<\/p>\n<p>Premier League bosses announced late on Sunday that Merino would undergo surgery to repair a bone injury sustained in a home game against Manchester United on January 25.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal said in a statement: &#8220;Mikel will undergo surgery in the coming days, after which he will begin a recovery and rehabilitation program.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Mikel is expected to be out of action for an extended period of time, with the aim of returning to full training by the end of the season.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Merino was a member of the Spanish national team that won the 2024 European Championship, scoring the winning goal in extra time in the quarter-finals against Germany.<\/p>\n<p>The World Cup, to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, is scheduled to begin on June 11th. <\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP Soccer: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/mikel-merino-arsenal-injury-2d67147bdc77459c2f53e08e37b10f9c\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LONDON (AP) &#8211; Spain midfielder Mikel Merino should be fit for the World Cup after a &#8220;long term&#8221; absence from Arsenal due to a right foot injury. Premier League bosses announced late on Sunday that Merino would undergo surgery to repair a bone injury sustained in a home game against Manchester United on January 25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Arsenal midfielder Merino needs foot surgery but should be fit for the World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/02\/arsenal-midfielder-merino-needs-foot-surgery-but-should-be-fit-for-the-world-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arsenal midfielder Merino needs foot surgery but should be fit for the World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LONDON (AP) &#8211; Spain midfielder Mikel Merino should be fit for the World Cup after a &#8220;long term&#8221; absence from Arsenal due to a right foot injury. 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