No, the competition is way much better and specialised today compared with Merckx era.I’ve already said , Pogacar as a pure climber may possibly be better.
Against a 69 Merckx I don’t think Pogacar will beat him though.
And absolutely not , 8 grand tours vs 3 grand tours , no. Merckx raced against many proven grand tour winners and world champions, Pog races against Vingegaard, a , relatively poor tter, and next best is Remco , a guy who cannot even have a consistent season of cycling.
Merckx competition was simply better