Five things we know about new Arsenal signing Pablo Mari

Pablo Mari has all the attributes to be a top Premier League defender.

Arsenal has just completed the signing of Pablo Mari from Flamengo. The Spaniard becomes Mikel Arteta’s first signing and hopefully, he will help Arsenal fix their leaky defence ahead of the latter half of the season.

Mari has been an unknown quantity to most English football fans, but here are five things you should know about him.

He is a winner

Pablo Mari has just helped Flamengo win both the Brazilian Serie A and South America’s version of the Champions League. He also helped the Brazilians to the Club World Cup final where they faced Liverpool.

He should bring a winning mentality to the current Arsenal backline.

He’s a left-footed centre back

Mari as a player is left-footed and Arsenal fans can begin to see him as their answer to Aymeric Laporte. He would provide the right balance when he is partnered with the likes of David Luiz or Shkodran Mustafi.

He is not afraid to make a tackle

Mari is known more for his ball-playing abilities, however, the Spaniard is also good in the tackle. He is hard but fair.

He is not fast but his reading of the game is impeccable

Being a fast centre back seems to be a good thing nowadays as attackers become increasingly fast.

However, knowing how to read the game is even more important and that has been the secret of some of the best defenders in the game. Mari is a smart defender and that should help those around him.

He is big enough to combat any attacker

Pablo Mari is 6’3 and that is a good height for a centre back. He is also physically well-built.

His height and body mass make him the perfect Premier League defender and he will be a formidable opponent to those that play against him.

20 Comments

  1. 1. He is cheap ( if we take up option)
    2. He is not what we were hoping for.
    3. He doesn’t get air sick
    4. He speaks English
    5. He moves around a lot.

  2. Mari is a decent footballer no doubt. Cedric is my biggest worry, wont be expecting anything special from him TBH. It’s all on the current and past Arsenal Academy management. What a waste of space these incompetent lot are.

  3. Am sure gotanidea will be beaming with smile his almost exact (except that he is cheap buy) FIFA 2019 backline.

    1. I’m glad Arteta has finally got his towering left-footed CB

      Now we can expect more goals from the corners

  4. Delighted for arsenal cos this chap is one I know quite well in d Brazilian serie A,he was arguably flamengos best and most
    important player as they swept all trophies aside certainly an upgrade on what arsenal have got in defence … Also disagree with d slow comment cos you just need to watch his performance against Liverpool where he wore down mane and sallah

    1. I agree pace is a bonus but its not a must.If he can read the game well knowing the basics he should be fine.

      And man i should ask,Are you a stone cold steve austin fan?✌👍

  5. He played well against Liverpool and hence can do the Job.
    Certainly will be better than Mustafi. We now need numbers and we have got that. We now have 4 fit defenders for the rest of the season. We can only know the quality once he is on the pitch.
    Lets be happy whatever we got now and support Arteta…
    A team can be successful only if 2 things are good. 1 Coach and 2 It’s recruitment . Can not blame entirely on the Coach for the Arsenal downfall

  6. Mari was voted defender of the year and was on the team of the year in the Brazilian top league and was important in helping Flamengo win the league. Good buy i reckon. Deserves fan support, let’s welcome him and fire him up to crush our opponents!!!

  7. He has reach as they say, those long strides of his with extra long legs, if he marshals his area well enough then he can become a big obstacle in our defence. With everyone working now at making things more difficult for our opponents, himself and Saliba could become a formidable wall. I seen a good video on youtube showcasing his defending, TotalFootball I think it was, he looked competent, it is his highlights and we’re yet to see the bad, but like I said ..with everyone pulling in same direction, and with Mari’s talents lying in how he sees the game, his football brain, Edu might have found us a low risk option that could pay off for next season, if not this one.

    Best of luck Mari, you have an army behind you, looking forward to seeing how this one goes. We got in a CB folks.

  8. Koschielny finally replaced?

    Welcome Pablo. Our hopes for a secure defense rest squarely on your shoulders. Please see to it that Leno doesn’t have to pick the ball from his net ever, if you can help it!

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