Given the size of the club, it's no surprise that there are so many Arsenal legends.

The likes of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Tony Adams all won the Premier League while playing for the club and have been rewarded with statues outside the Emirates.

However, as with any club, there are a number of players who fall a run below legendary status, but still accomplished enough in their time at the club to become loved by the fans and considered as something of a cult hero.

Two of the best examples are Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey, and it now appears that Mikel Arteta has a player who's a hybrid of both.

The Arsenal careers of Xhaka and Ramsey

Despite concrete interest from Manchester United, Ramsey joined Arsenal from Cardiff City in the summer of 2008 for around £5m.

However, just a year and a half later, as he was trying to establish himself in the team, he suffered a horrendous double-leg break in a match away to Stoke City, which kept him out of action for just under a year.

Fortunately, while the incident slowed his development, the Caerphilly-born star made a full recovery and, within a few years, was a key player under Arsène Wenger, having his best campaign in the 13/14 season in which he scored 16 goals and provided nine assists in 34 appearances.

By the time he left for Juventus in the summer of 2019, the Welsh legend had racked up a tally of 64 goals and 60 assists in 369 games, and more crucially, had played a vital helping the North Londoners win three FA Cups.

When it comes to Xhaka's time in North London, it's impossible to ignore the explosive episode under Unai Emery, in which he threw the shirt and captain's armband to the floor and then swore at the baying Emirates Crowd.

At that point, it looked like his three-year stint in N5 would be coming to a close, but upon his appointment as manager just a couple of months later, Arteta was able to convince the Swiss international to stay.

From that point onwards, the former Borussia Mönchengladbach slowly rebuilt his relationship with the fanbase and did such a great job at it that the away supporters finally sang his name again at Brentford in September 2022.

That season, which would be his last in North London, would also be his best, as he helped spearhead a surprise title challenge, scoring nine goals and providing seven assists in 47 appearances and bidding farewell to a rapturous and appreciative Emirates.

In all, while they aren't legends of the club, Xhaka and Ramsey are both cult heroes, and it looks like Arteta now has someone in his squad who could be a hybrid of both.

Arteta's Xhaka & Ramsey hybrid

After years of building it, Arteta now has a genuinely world-class squad, one stacked with international superstars such as £32m man, Mikel Merino, who could be viewed as a hybrid of Ramsey and Xhaka.

That might sound odd at first, but the Spanish international has plenty in common with both former Arsenal stars.

For example, at his peak, the Welsh international was a lean, mean goalscoring machine from the middle of the park, and that is something the former Real Sociedad star is starting to become.

He ended last season with an impressive tally of nine goals and five assists in 44 games, and while some may point out that he achieved this due to his time playing up top, he was only given that chance because the manager viewed him as the best goalscorer in the side at that point.

Moreover, the 29-year-old does not play up top for his national side very often and has found the back of the net eight times for them and scored an unreal hat-trick at the weekend.

How about his similarities to the Swiss international, though?

Well, aside from his ability to chip in with a goal, the former Gunners star was known for being a tough-tackling number eight who thrived when tasked with breaking up play.

Sure, he would sometimes take it too far, but at his best, the new Sunderland man was a duel-winning machine in North London, which is another way to describe Merino.

For example, in his final season in Spain, he was the only player in Europe's top seven leagues to win over 300 duels, coming in at 326.

Moreover, his underlying numbers from the last 365 days show that he's still just as effective when it comes to the less glamorous side of the game.

According to FBref, he ranks in the top 2% of midfielders in Europe's top five leagues for aerial duels won and the top 3% for tackles in the attacking third, all per 90.

Finally, the 6 foot 3 "monster", as dubbed by analyst Ben Mattinson, captained Sociedad on occasion before leaving, suggesting he too has some serious leadership qualities.

Ultimately, he might not always be the first name on the team sheet, but Merino is an incredibly useful player to have in the squad and something of a Xhaka Ramsey hybrid.