Arteta’s first signing confirmed by Brazilian media

So, it appears that Mikel Arteta has made his first ever signing as a manager, as the Brazilian outlet ColunaDoFLA have announced that the loan deal for the Flamengo defender Pablo Mari has now been made permanent by Arsenal.

They reported this morning (Translated by Google)….

Sealed deal! After loan, Arsenal completes purchase of Flamengo’s Pablo Marí
Defender Pablo Marí arrived at Flamengo in the second half of 2019 and became a key player in Jorge Jesus’ team. With such success, it did not take long to attract interest from Europeans. Earlier this year, he was loaned to Arsenal, and the English club decided to exercise the purchase right and stay with the athlete permanently.

With the purchase, Pablo Marí became the most expensive defender ever negotiated by Flamengo. Since the start of the loan, Fla had already received € 5 million. In total, the transaction can reach € 16 million, with bonuses.

It seemed that Pablo Mari had impressed Mikel Arteta before the lockdown and was picked by him on a regular basis ahead of Sokratis, who was demoted to cameo performances at right-back. It is a real shame that he looks to have played his last game for this season after getting a serious injury just 28 minutes into Arsenal’s first game after the restart, and we will probably not see him again until next season, when he will probablybe William Saliba’s partner at centre-back for the Gunners.

But Mari had already made it clear that he wanted to stay at the Emirates back in April, when he told TalkSport: He said: “I’ve been at five clubs over the last four years. This is a footballer’s life.

“If you want to play football and you want to improve [to get to a big club] then every year you need to move.

“Maybe when you find a club that is good for you, then you can stay and improve with that club.

“I have found myself here at Arsenal. It is a really good option for me.

“I want to stay here and improve as a player and a person. I want to be here for many more years.”

This deal more or less confirms that David Luiz will not be given the extension he so desires and could even have played his last game for the Gunners already…

44 Comments

  1. I hope he wouldn’t be another injury prone CB, because we have had that type of player. Chelsea bought Werner and Ziyech before next season starts, so I hope Arsenal could sell their want-away stars faster and use the money to buy new ones

    1. Hi Gotanidea. I heard Leroy Sane wont be extending his contract at Man City. He wants to leave.
      Arsenal should move quickly sign him. The left side of the attack should be sorted with Sane.

      Leno

      Bellerin. Saliba. Dunk. Thierney

      Partey. Saka

      Pepe. Asensio. Sane

      Martinelli

      Out: Ozil, Mhkytaryan, Elneny, Mustafi, David Luiz, Socratis, Lacazette, Aubameyang, AMN

      In: Asensio, Leroy Sane, Thomas Partey, Lewis Dunk, Nabil Fekir.

      We should get Leroy Sane before Bayern does

      1. There is no way he will come to Arsenal,he wants to go back to Germany and play for Bayer Munich who have made him their top target so forget about him!

      2. Are you intending to donate the£100million it will cost to buy him to our clun then? Otherwse plase stop dreamingabout absurdities!

  2. Arsenal must not extend Luiz ‘s contract, must offload Ozil, Lacazet and Sokratis in oder to bring 1 box to box midfielder and experienced center back.

    We want championship league football next season

    1. Champions League football isn’t coming next season maybe after next let’s try to be realistic here we have a good Manager in Arteta now but Champions league we are not yet there

  3. “Five clubs in 4 years” And he now has parked himself at Arsenal Football Charity for the next 3-4 years. Do nothing get handsome salary! Did he ever play 8-10 competitive games for us to judge his qualities on the field? I’m losing it with Mikel. And he wants Luiz to extend his unwelcome stay with us? Does he wish to get the boot like his predecessors? I’m not impressed with Mari, and will now have the agony to watch him for the next 3 years or more. Have they paid him 200K/week?
    Arsenal deserves better! Shame Arteta! But wait, not your fault, this is your limit, average to poor player, only as assistant to Pep, time is not far when the bubble will burst.Shambolic decision.

    1. Arteta is not the problem. It is the board and Owners. This is Arteta forst Managerial job. Common sense dictates that the board should invest in quality players and give him the necessary tools to succeed.

      For starters,
      Let the board buy the following players

      Asensio, Leroy Sane, Thomas Partey, Lewis Dunk and Nabil Fekir.
      And we will have a team that will compete with the best
      I also have not seen much of Mari. But if i am to chose between him and Luiz, i will chose Mari. We have seen socratis, luiz and mustafi and their errors. So let us stick with Arteta. But we have to put the pressure on the owners to buy those quality players.

    2. You are by far the most negative reader on here, but what you say is not based on facts in the slightest.
      Arteta has NOT said that he wants Luiz to stay, in fact the opposite.
      Arteta has been training with Mari for a long time now and kows his qualities. If he has faith then I do too.
      Mari will NOT earn 200k a week, that is just such rubbish that I don’t know what to say.
      Stop making things up and try supporting your (supposed) team…

      1. I agree with you Admin. We should support Arteta. I wish we can get Sane. He speaks highly of Arteta and i think with a little persuasion, we can get him. We need to be patient with Arteta irrespective of where we finish this season.

      2. At last, Admin Pat,
        It is seriously demoralising me reading LC’s comments. £200k per week for Mari, when we almost certainly can’t offer that to a top player is a ludicrous thing to say. Yes, it is demoralising me when I need to have a bit of positivity

    3. If he (Arteta) offer clown Luiz (Calamity Jane) a new contract, I’m on your side, LC. Then we have nothing to hope fore, then the coming years will be dreadful. The only hope then would be a new owner. Mr Dangote? Does he have any money left after the The Plague walked over the African continent?

    4. Well you certainly believe in giving a new manager a proper chance don’t you! A dozen or so games and already you know he is not up to the job. Hope your views are yours alone, as I have seen practically NO other Gooners agree with you, thank God! No wonder you are called Loose Cannon!

    5. You’re right LC. Perhaps someone could remind us of the last time we signed a crock and it worked out well. Jury still out on Tierney for me.

    6. Ladies and Gents, maybe am I asking too much from the Arsenal to be competitive and to sign players that will make us competitive? The results do not lie, the cup ousters do not lie, are we heading to be the next Aston Villa?I hope not.I cannot sit and applaud mediocrity and will voice my concerns till we become competitive.
      Pablo Mari has been hoping teams – he himself said five clubs in four years! Not me! The two or three games he played were not confidence boosting either. And I was just inquiring his wages for curiosity as we do pay well! Cedric Soares hired on loan and I doubt he will play this season.
      Socrates/Mustafi/Luiz have proven to be error prone time and again, sorry, I cannot applaud these players.
      I do support Arteta when he players the youngsters rater than watching calamities strike one after the other for 90 minutes with the so called “seniors” I’d happily take 10th if we can give game time to young players and groom them for next season. Except Auba and Leno, rest all the seniors have let the team down, hope you agree with me on this and Arteta keeps selecting them. What was the intensity of the training which Arteta conducted leaving two senior players injured within 30 minutes of a competitive game?
      A stitch in time saves nine, Arteta has to answer himself.

  4. There is no way he will come to Arsenal,he wants to go back to Germany and play for Bayer Munich who have made him their top target so forget about him!

    1. You are right Siamois. I just wish we give it a try. The major problem with our team is we play Aubameyang at left wing when he is not a winger. We have midfielders who csnt nive with the ball. They loose possesion quite often. They cant shoot or drible. Sidrway passing. We need creativity at the wing and middle. Reason we should sell Aubameyang and Lacazette to fund these deals. Asensio, Fekil, Sane would be dream signings. Quality is needed to achieve the results.
      I would rather have Martinelli and Nketiah as yhe only Strikers next season with 3 skillful wingers than having Lacazette and Aubameyang just strolling upfront without intelligent midfielders in the team.
      Midfield holds the key

  5. Ok lets all speak as things are and how we would like them to be Arteta is a rookie coach who so far can’t even get our line ups spot on next seeing a player in training and on the field are two different things Mari has not even been tested to the full has come from a divison in Brazil and has so far club surfed to get games that speaks volumes in its self.
    We banter charity club Arsenal FC have gone and spent 14 million on a bearly tested player whom is out of rest of the season why? what has he done to earn a contract… on top of this the player Mari is slow we need pace at the back.
    Why the hell would we loan a player and after 3 games then injured we choose to buy what a complete joke we look desperate.
    As for Arteta I have been all for him but I do not trust his player judgment he wasn’t a world beater himself and he wad a panic buy by Wenger just like Mari is.
    Look at Chelsea the two players they has signed have cost less then Luiz Marri and pepe and are world class players they are going for a title in the next season.
    We go for second hand goods injury prone players we are now a mid table team and shame on the recruitment team even Edu can piss off as well.

    We need to start acting and being ruthless in all departments at this club or we will stay a shadow of what we was

  6. Marí turns as quick as the Titanic, yes he’s slow and now he’s out for the rest of the season!

  7. Dreams of Sane, Partey (my favorite) and Fekir is just dreams. Why should they want to come to Ashburton Grove? A loss against Brighton and we are down in the gutter. Why should Thomas Partey, who is playing for one of the best clubs i Europe, want to sign for… I find no words for my sorrow. I love Asn’l as much as any of you, but this restart of the season 2019-20 was the worst thing that could happen to us. With haft the squad on their way out, these losers will not run a yard extra to prevent a goal – or to score one. “Auba can’t score” – the new number one hit on the Top 20 chart. Prove me being wrong, Pierre-Emerick!

    1. Robert, the problem for strikers is that they rely on a good supply of decent passes for them to do their job. Let’s hope Auba gets that today and then he can be better judged. He’s made good runs before and the ball hasn’t been given to him.
      As for your comment about half the squad being on their way out I can only hope you’re right.

    2. Hi Robert. You are right.
      I wish the board know that without top signings, we cant make progress.

      They have to show ambition. Thomas Partey and Lewis Dunk Signing are a must

      For goodness sake, Fekir went to Betis for around 18 million pounds last summer. Are we saying we couldnt afford 18m pounds for him then?

      Partey: 45m pounds
      Lewis Dunk: 40m pounds
      Fekir: 25m to 30m pounds
      Asensio: 60m pounds

      that is 175m pounds investment.

      Out: Aubameyang, Ozil, Lacazette, Mkhytaryan, Elneny, AMN, Guendouzi, Socratis, Mustafi, Luiz

      We can get a minimum of 100m pounds from this clear out. and free up hugh amount in wages.

      We keep believing the BS that Arsenal FC is broke. We played CL football for many years. with revenue coming in.

      We sold players for goodness sake.

      Liverpool investment over 140m pounds on a defender and a goalkeeper. Result: A CL and PL trophy.

      We should be ambitious and demand the club spend. If the board think Arteta can do magic without investing, then we wont make Europa league and same situation next year. The fans will turn on Arteta.

      We should put the pressure on the board to spend. No good investment, no trophies, we loose top players, we keep rebuilding, and keep going to mid table till we find it difficult to even make europa league.
      And the gap between us and Liverpool/City gets wider.

      Chelsea bought two quality players in Ziyech and Werner.

      1. 👍 The issue is the lack of football and financial nous of the Board and senior management.

  8. From what i have seen, i dont think Mari is going to change our defensive issue, in fact, i see him adding to them, so slow and cumbersome.

    1. From what I’ve seen of our defence I hope the young lad Zech Medley gets a chance to play today. I base this on the fact that he can’t be any worse than our regular CBs and might well turn out to be a whole lot better.

  9. I looked on the Arsenal website and there is no mention at all of him having signed. So far it is based on assumptions

    1. Maybe not official on Arsenal.com SueP, but Arteta did say this yesterday….. “What happens in the summer will happen. This cannot be affected just because a player gets injured doing his job and defending our club.”

      What does that sound like?

      1. The Mari signing makes sense. with time, his pace would improve. He only needs to know how to read the game well and can initiate attacks with his left foot. He has the height also.
        Midfield is next. that needs a complete overhaul.

  10. I’m disappointed by every Arsenal coach is doing..Arteta sold the game against man city..how can he pick a school team and want him to compete with a well organized team…that to me is selfish.no suprises in football. It’s hard working that mater .that’s why Auba want to go because the team have no ambition..pick Leno,mari,Luiz, Tierney,colosnach,xaka,ceballos, ozil,pepe,Auba and Laka..ths team will do something

  11. At the risk of sounding pessimistic, I am not sure Mari can manage the pace of the EPL so I don’t think this is a good signing. On several occasions I’ve seen different forwards go past him far too easily even though he seems to have a good sense of position. I really hope I am wrong.

  12. For now arteta has not gotten his own team. He came in toward 2019 ending and had to made do with d players on ground, then u still ve to give him kudos trying to get d best out of this players.
    David Luis shouldnt ve bin signed in d first place looking at his later Yrs in a Chelsea jersey and he knows he won’t get playing time under lampard. It is not really easy playing in d Premier league and Dat is y most of think Mari won’t perform but I tell u with time he ll adapt. Arsenal has a lot of tired legs needed to b offloaded but d point is this, arsenal are not playing well to attract quality players such as sane, fekir, dunk, asensio and partey
    All this players are playing in CL accept for dunk and u think they ll leave an ambitious club? For me I tink arteta should look inward like lampard, make good use of some quality academy stars they ve and probably just add 2 or 3 signing as u know arsenal management ll Neva trigger a big transfer like Chelsea fc did.

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