There is something almost absurd about Mikel Merino. The man spends most of his time watching from the bench, probably eating a sandwich and minding his own business, and then he wanders on and decides the game. He has done it before, he has done it again, and at this point Spain should probably just start him and save everyone the drama. But then again, why mess with what works.
Spain are into the World Cup semi-finals and the football has been solid without ever really setting pulses racing. They keep finding ways to get the job done, which is exactly what good teams do, and Merino coming off the bench to be the difference-maker is becoming less of a surprise and more of a reliable pattern. You almost expect it now. The man has a nose for a big moment that most players would envy.
The bigger conversation, though, is about Lamine Yamal. The hype around this kid has been enormous, and fairly so, because the things he did at the Euros were genuinely special. He turned up at a major tournament at sixteen years old and played like he had been doing it for a decade. The world fell in love with him and rightly so.
But this World Cup has felt like a quieter chapter for Yamal so far. He has not been bad, not by any stretch, but the moments that made everyone gasp at the Euros have been harder to find. Whether that is down to opponents targeting him more carefully, the team structure limiting his freedom, or simply one of those tournaments where things just do not click straight away, it is hard to say.
What is worth remembering is that he is still incredibly young and Spain are still winning. Sometimes the best players on a team are not always the ones who take the headlines, and right now Merino is stealing every one of them. There is still time for Yamal to remind everyone exactly what he is capable of, and with a semi-final coming up, the stage could not be bigger.
Let me know your thoughts.