Report: Arsenal Set To Make Defender’s Loan Deal Permanent

Arsenal are set to make Pablo Mari’s loan deal from Flamengo a permanent one…

Arsenal are set to make Pablo Mari’s loan deal from Flamengo permanent for £10 million once the transfer window opens as Mikel Arteta checks off one of his summer plans, according to The Athletic’s David Ornstein.

The reporter claims that while rumours of interest in Reims’ Axel Disasi are true, Arteta is after a left-footed centre-back and thus has opted to keep Mari on a long-term deal.

Whether or not Disasi will be added to the squad – irrespective of the Mari situation – remains to be seen given the plethora of central defenders we now have on our books.

Mari, Shkodran Mustafi, David Luiz, Sokratis, Calum Chambers and Rob Holding have all featured for us this campaign, while Dinos Mavropanos and William Saliba will return from their respective loan spells in the summer.

Ornstein did make it clear that the club is seeking offers for “a number of their centre-halves” and if that turns out to be the case, there would be room to strengthen that area further.

As far as Mari is concerned, we’re yet to see what he’s all about given that he’s only made one Premier League appearance, which came in the final game we played against West Ham Utd before the COVID-19 pandemic halted football.

He looked rather assured in that game as he did in our FA Cup win at Portsmouth, but it seems this decision has been taken by what Arteta has seen from the Spaniard in training.

Amidst a pandemic and asking players to take a wage-cuts and deferrals, it will be interesting to see how clubs operate in the transfer market.