Arsenal have already sent Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Folarin Balogun out on loan this January and it now looks like we are close to sending yet another peripheral defender out on loan very shortly.
This time it is set to be our big Spanish centre-back Pablo Mari, who is reported to be a target for Serie A side Udinese, according to the transfer guru Fabrizio Romano. There is little surprise that we are getting the ex-Flamengo man off our books as he has only made 12 appearances in his whole two years at the Emirates.
This is what Romano tweeted last night…..
Pablo Marí deal. Udinese director Marino: “We’re gonna sign another centre back soon, this is our plan – I can confirm we’re in talks to sign a new defender”, he told Sky. ⚪️🇪🇸 #AFC
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 15, 2022
To be fair, I had high hopes for Mari when he arrived as Mikel Arteta’s first signing on loan from Flamengo, as our defence was in a bit of a shambles at the time. Edu said at the time: “Pablo is an experienced player who will provide us with additional defensive quality. We have been monitoring Pablo’s career for a while and we are very pleased to have reached agreement with Flamengo for him to join us initially until the end of our season.”
In that season though, Mari only played two games before the League suspension came into force when Covid arrived, and then when it was resumed, he was injured in his first game back, and has spent most of his time at Arsenal in the treatment room.
I think that a move to Udinese is a good idea for him to get his career back on track. He is still only 28 so could have a good few more years ahead of him if he can stay clear of injuries…
Let him go on loan now with a permanent deal come the summer for a few quid and bring Saliba back from Marseille into the CB fold alongside Gabriel & White for next season.
Balogun is away and will be back in the summer to which he will take Eddie’s place who will leave on a free but is staying until the summer unless a bid of £10-£15m come to us in January as we are short up top, laca is away too unless he signs a new deal and Auba has one foot out the door as it is.
Vhalovic is a great young player but I’m doubting he wants to come to Arsenal as we have no UCL, to which he wants at his next club & from what I’m reading has no desire to come to us. We are wasting our efforts on this player imo, only positive negotiation tactic we have is Lucas Torreira as part of a deal as he is already there on loan.
Apparently Fioretina are willing to accept the inclusion of lucas in any sale to us and will sell to us but the player doesn’t want to join.
We need to make moves in the market very soon as our squad is depleted and we need a CM & CF asap imo.
To my mind, it is very clear that what MA is doing and doing firmly and steadily, is shifting out the many deadwood players he inherited and is steadily replacing them with better quality.
Unlike many Gooners who fondly imagine you need to always bring in replacements first and before you shift your deadwood, I realise this process is an acute and difficult balancing act.
At no time can a squad be too limited or too large in numbers.
I also see how easy it is for keyboard warriors, often with little life or busines experience, to think this process can be done far more easily and sooner than, in reality, it is possible.
I am content that we are PLAINLY, moving as fast as economically and humanly posible, in the right direction.
I’m not sure what you’re saying here – Mari was bought by arteta, and they presumably knew each other at City.
I don’t think he’s a bad player and had a few good games for us, and possibly was bought as a stop gap, perhaps as a part of this balancing act you mention?
Overall though, I would say MA hasn’t balanced things particularly well – how many defenders has he signed to get to this point? And the states of our midfield and striker options are pretty poor at the moment. I get that it’s difficult and we are moving in the right direction, and there have been some major successes (Tomi and ramsdale in particular for me), but i do think some criticism is more than fair as well.
DAVI I rather think you ARE sure what I am saying. It is entirely clear and obvious, though as your post outlines, you are free to disagree with any or all of it It is called debate and is healthy.
BTW, I did not deny that MA brought in MARI. But timing and the whole range of club circumstances at the time of Mari’s arrival, were very different from those in place now.
Almost all managers bring in players who turn out not to be much used and play only a bit part before eventually leaving. That is entirely normal and not worthy of special mention, IMO.
I would agree that he was probably bought as a stop gap, just as such as Elnemy was when brought in by Wenger. Sadly, Elneny is still our player, though I believe not for much longer.
The squad is plainly beingfirmly and steadily upgraded and the deadwood still here is now far fewer than a year or so ago and has been much upgraded by such as Tomi, Ramsdale, White etc.
I said when we bought him and was shot down, too slow and not strong enough. Why we bought him and paid so much money for him is a mystery. Arteta knew him from city but we still got him. WHY?