Spanish starlet joins Gunners
By Tom Adams -  Created on 7 Aug 2006

Arsenal have beaten off competition from their Premiership rivals to
complete the signing of Spanish wonderkid Fran Merida.
阿森納打敗其他英超對手，簽下西班牙神童弗蘭‧梅里達

The 16-year-old, with a burgeoning reputation in the game, has now
followed Cesc Fabregas' example by leaving Barcelona to link up with
Arsene Wenger at a formative age.
這個16歲小將希望追隨前輩塞斯克‧法比加斯的腳步，離開巴薩後，
能在教授麾下大放光芒

The arrival of Merida is another coup for The Gunners who are well-versed
in snapping up the top talent from all over Europe, and the exciting
midfielder joins Vincent van den Berg and Joe O'Cearuill in choosing
to entrust their futures to Wenger this summer.
這只是槍手在歐洲四處搜括天才少年的另一個例子，這個夏天已經有文森‧范登伯格
和喬‧奧西魯兩個小將選擇把他們的將來托付給教授

Both Liverpool and Manchester United were believed to be keen on the
youngster, with Rick Parry confirming the five-time European champions'
interest in July, but he will now look to impress in London having signed
up for the start of the Emirates Stadium era at Arsenal.
利物浦和曼聯都曾經跟梅里達有所接觸，但現在他們只能看著他來到倫敦
準備在酋長球場開創另一頁歷史

Merida's Camp Nou career had been on rocky ground for some time with
reports in March claiming the starlet was missing from the Catalan giants,
and Barcelona are investigating the possibility of involving Uefa in the
transfer after losing another young prospect to foreign suitors.
梅里達的紐坎普生涯有點坎坷，他在三月時甚至還失蹤一陣子
而巴薩在又一次以這種方式失去小球員之後，準備著請歐足聯調查此事

Barca saw both Fabregas and Manchester United's Gerard Pique leave the
club in 2003, and are angry that Merida has joined the exodus to England.
巴薩在2003年同時失去小法布和傑拉德‧皮客之後
對於年輕球員又流落異鄉感到相當不爽

However, the player will now be hoping to emulate his compatriot Fabregas,
whose meteoric rise resulted in him playing for Spain at the World Cup
finals in Germany.
然而，梅里達本人卻希望能循著同鄉的小法布的腳步，先在俱樂部有所表現，
進而入選國家隊，就像小法布這次在德國世界盃的表現一樣

Merida has already made his first appearance in an Arsenal shirt, scoring
in a 4-0 friendly victory over Boreham Wood on Friday.
梅里達已經在星期五Arsenal XI戰勝Boreham Wood出場並且攻入一球。