Newcastle United have wished a happy birthday to Mikel Merino – and fans have taken to Twitter to urge the player not to quit St James’ Park this summer.
The north-east giants offered their congratulations to the Spanish midfielder on their official Twitter account this morning as he celebrated turning 22.
Happy birthday, @mikelmerino1! ??? #NUFC pic.twitter.com/l7VPktVMzI
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) June 22, 2018
But Newcastle fans are more concerned about whether Merino will still be at the club when he turns 23.
Widespread recent reports have stated the player, who is currently on holiday in the United States, is likely to leave St James’ Park this summer after slipping down the pecking order in the second half of last season.
Speculation is intense in Spain that Merino is set to join Real Sociedad, who are said to be working on a deal to sign him for around £10.5million.
That would represent a profit of around £3million for Newcastle, who signed him initially on loan from Borussia Dortmund last summer before activating an option to convert the deal into a permanent transfer.
Merino made a major early impact at St James’ Park and supporters took to social media en masse to urge the club to to keep him, with comments including “don’t sell” and “please don’t go”.
This Is Futbol has rounded up some of the best tweets:
Don’t sell Merino
— Tom Richards (@tomd_richards) June 22, 2018
Please don't go!! ??????
— beth (@bethmann99) June 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/mdbigred/status/1010112654743130112
https://twitter.com/JaackRT/status/1010108920508141568
Don’t leave me
— Gruno Buimarães (@47AEH) June 22, 2018
Be ridiculous letting a player this good leave!!! He’s one of the best midfields we’ve had in years!
— Daniel (@DanielNufc13) June 22, 2018
A great present would be for him to stay with #NUFC and not move back to Spain. https://t.co/DUidS15Mae
— NUFC360 (@NUFC360) June 22, 2018