Arsenal have agreed a deal in principle worth up to £32.6 million to sign Spanish midfielder Mikel Merino from Real Sociedad.

The transfer fee for the 28-year-old, whose contract with the La Liga team runs for less than a year, is initially £28.4 million plus £4.2 million in additional payments.

Merino was part of Spain’s Euro 2024 winning team, appearing in all seven matches of the tournament and scoring a late winner against Germany in the quarter-finals.

He would be Arsenal’s third signing this transfer window after Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori and Spanish goalkeeper David Raya, with the Gunners activating an option to buy him permanently from Brentford.

Merino can operate as a deeper-lying midfielder and is expected to complement Declan Rice, who played a box-to-box role at times last season.

He would also give Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta another option to compete in midfield with Rice, Jorginho, Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard.

Merino already has Premier League experience, having spent a year at Newcastle before moving to Real Sociedad in 2018, where he played alongside Odegaard during the 2019/20 season when the Norwegian was on loan from Real Madrid.

Merino, who won 28 caps for Spain, made 45 appearances in all competitions last season, scoring eight goals.