Mikel Merino was walking along the banks of the river Tyne with his mum when there came a realisation that life could be about to change.

For 12 months he had lived in a city centre apartment in Dortmund with two childhood friends. There, in Germany’s eighth largest city, he was anonymous. Now, at one of the cultural hubs of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, came a turning point before he had so much as kicked a ball for his new club.

“It was the next day after I signed for Newcastle and I was with my mum walking near the river and a lot of people, were shaking my hand and going, ‘All the best mate,’ and ‘Have a good season,’” he recalls. “I looked at my mum and I was like ‘Woah! I’ve only just joined and they know me!’ In Dortmund even on the last day they didn't know!”

Merino’s mum, Maide, a huge football fan, turned to her boy.

‘Look,’ she said. ‘The fans like you already and you've only been here for one day! They are nice people.’

“She loves the stadium,” he adds. “She thinks it’s a really nice city and she’s coming here normally once or twice a month. She was happy to leave her son in Newcastle.”

Merino, just 21, has only played two games in English football, but there is an elegance and vision that has turned heads already. He was the best player in Newcastle’s first win of the season against West Ham. His goal for the Spanish Under-21 side against Italy six days later was outstanding.

“It is difficult to repeat!” he laughs. “It happens a few times in your life. Don't get used to it!”

He knew at 12 he was going to be a footballer. His father, Angel, played almost 500 times in Spanish football. His best years were for his beloved Osasuna. He would later manage the second team.

“Of course it is my team,” he adds. “It is my heart. I was born there. My father is Osasuna, he is a fan, my small brother also, my mother loves football and loves Osasuna. Before I was born I was Osasuna!

“Due to a lot of injuries and some red cards I had to play (in a win against Barcelona B). It was incredible playing in that stadium with this crowd. It was perfect, my dream come true. For my family it was incredible”

Merino's goal against Italy U21s:

He would play only two full seasons at Osasuna. By February 2016, Borussia Dortmund had made their move. He signed but played out the rest of the season in Spain, and helped the football club of his family reach the Primera Liga.

“That moment, look my skin, I am getting goosebumps! It was incredible,” he adds. “The last matches people thought we were not going to qualify for the play-offs but we did and in the play-offs we were like a machine. We won all the matches and beat Girona in the final, my team-mates threw me in the air.

“I said goodbye to the crowd, everybody was singing my name, all the love shown to me was incredible and I will have it in my mind for all my life. It was a dream, it is a film. You have to do a film and you do it like that. You cannot improve it.”

It made what happened next much harder.

“I went with two friends (Mague and Unia) to Dortmund,” he adds. “What didn't go right? The coach (Thomas Tuchel) didn't trust me. That was the main thing. That was from early. It is hard for me. I had not had enough time to show. It was two weeks, more or less. The list came out for the Champions League squad when I was with the national Under-21 team. I wasn’t in it. I was not even told.

“I didn't want to go for him and ask why. I went back and trained with the first team. I played eight games. I started in two or three, the rest just a few minutes. I am a really positive guy but one or two times they had to pick me up. They are my childhood friends. They made me laugh again.”

In the afterglow of Borussia Dortmund’s DFB-Pokal Cup victory, Merino sat with his agent.

“He started talking about interest that Newcastle had,” adds Merino. “Of course it is better because of Rafa Benitez. I know Newcastle is a great club, a huge stadium, the crowd, everything, the staff and the people who work here but of course Rafa being at Newcastle helps, the language, the huge trainer he is, it makes the decision easier.”

He signed on a loan deal that will become permanent if he completes a certain amount of games for Newcastle. That already feels inevitable.

Jonjo Shelvey’s stamp on Dele Alli opened the door earlier than expected for his debut, in a loss at Huddersfield. Against West Ham, in a 3-0 victory, no player made more total passes, more forward passes, produced more successful dribbles or won back possession more than Merino.

“The way I played against West Ham is the way I love to play,” he says. “Sometimes you can do things better or sometimes things go wrong. I will try to play my way. If things go right, okay, if not I have to work harder.

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“My favourite position? I can play whatever you want! In Spain we call it number six, it is the holding midfielder. I can play there or number eight or number ten. I love it. I prefer to play! Rafa can choose.

“I can defend and attack and go to the box and have freedom to play and be wherever I have to be. The Premier League is faster than I thought but I'm getting used to that pace. I am on my way.”

Finding a home, too often forgotten for young footballers, has been crucial.