Mikel Merino spotted with Arsenal squad before their clash with PSG, sparking hopes the £33m summer signing could make his debut in the Champions League match

Mikel Merino could be set to make his Arsenal debut against Paris Saint-Germain.

The 28-year-old Spanish midfielder joined the Gunners from Real Sociedad for £33million in August.

But he then suffered a ‘small fracture’ to his shoulder during his first training session with his new club. Merino has so far missed six games with this injury but he recently returned to training.

He was also spotted on Tuesday afternoon with the rest of the Arsenal squad attending a pre-match meeting at a Hilton hotel in London.

A video posted to X (formerly Twitter) by Connor Humm showed Merino signing autographs for Arsenal fans before walking into the hotel 

It is understood that Merino could now be named in Mikel Arteta’s matchday squad for Tuesday night’s game with PSG, although he is unlikely to start.

Arteta said on the eve of last weekend’s 4-2 win over Leicester that Arsenal’s game at Southampton on October 5 was a realistic return date for Merino.

Speaking last Friday, Arteta said: ‘Tomorrow is too soon. Next week we’ll see. He had partial training today. He’s been working so hard.

‘It’s looking good. It’s about the healing of the bone and how mature that is to expose him to contact basically.

‘We are trying to keep him in the cage, because he’s been pushing everyone — the physios, the doctors, everybody — and he’s ready to go, and he really wants it. 

‘I think we are comfortable now to start exposing him with contact, and he looked really good in training.’

Arsenal are looking for their first win in this season’s Champions League after drawing 0-0 at Atalanta in their opening fixture.

Meanwhile, PSG got their latest European campaign off to a winning start last month by beating Girona 1-0 in Paris.