Pablo Mari joined Arsenal in the January transfer window as one of Mikel Arteta’s first signings for the club.
The Spaniard had been on the books of Manchester City previously and Arteta had known about his quality.
He was signed to give the Gunners more options as they had no left-footed centre-back at the time.
Mari took a while before he started his first game for the club, but he impressed so much that some fans didn’t want him to go back to the bench.
He played two games for the Gunners before football was suspended in March and when football returned, he kept his place in the Arsenal starting XI against Manchester City in their first match back.
He didn’t finish that game and he had to be withdrawn in the first half through injury, replaced by David Luiz.
He hasn’t played for the club since that time and they have since signed another left-footed centre back, Gabriel Magalhaes.
After about five months out, Football London is reporting that Arsenal expects him to be back after this international break.
The report claims that the defender has been continuing with outside running and light ball work and he should be in shape to join first-team training after the break.
The less players on the treatment table, the better, so I hope Mari is able to get back to at least being in contention. It must have been miserable signing for the club to then get injured so quickly and for so long