Pablo Mari has signed a season-long loan deal with AC Monza who will be obligated to buy the Spaniard for a reported €7 million if they avoid relegation in their first ever season in Serie A.
The 28-year-old centre-back returns to Italy having enjoyed a fruitful six-month spell at Udinese that earned him plenty of admirers, including AC Milan and Hellas Verona.
Arsenal signed Mari from the Brazilian side Flamengo for £7.5 million in July 2020 having initially recruited him on loan to provide competition to Sokratis, Shkodran Mustafi, David Luiz, Calum Chambers and Rob Holding.
A promising start at Emirates Stadium was wrecked by a bad ankle injury in the first game back after football’s pandemic hiatus and he subsequently spent six months on the sidelines. While he went on to make 18 appearances in the 2020/21 campaign, the arrivals of Gabriel Magalhaes and Ben White pushed him further down the defensive pecking order.
Last season, he featured just three times before taking the Udinese opportunity in January to rebuild his confidence and fitness.
Given his experience, he’ll be a useful addition to a Monza squad who will likely have their backs to the wall for the majority of the campaign. The Silvio Berlusconi-owned outfit starts the season at home to Torino on Saturday night and then face Napoli, Udinese and Roma before the end of the month.
Best of luck, Pablo…the Arsenal dressing room will be a lot less handsome without you.
€7 million, pleasantly surprised!
I’m surprised that Boehly didn’t try to hijack the deal for £25m. Chelsea desperately need a CB, also left-footed CBs are short in supply. Mari is tall, strong and a good passer. He is a decent defender and had a good season in Italy.
I’m predicting that his value will increase after a good season with Monza.
Agree. If he was playing for a counter attacking team who sit Deep most of the time then he would be ideal.
As with most Gaz/Raul era signings we signed players who looked good on paper in other leagues, but who obviously have weaknesses exposed in the premier league
Odds are stacked but fingers crossed, Monza stays up.
More wages likely cleared from the weekly wage bill. Good luck to him and Monza.
I really want to see us go in for two out of three: striker, wide forward and completion for the midfield core.
Always a weird decision to sign him but seemed a decent enough guy, if not a good enough player. Good luck to him in Italy and hopefully that’s another of the dodgy deals consigned to history…
He did not turn out a great player for us, but that doesn’t make his signing weird or dodgy. For 7m he was a perfectly good gamble to take after his performances in Brazil
Sokratis, Mustafi, David Luiz, Chambers….
Let that sink in..
Makes you realise how far we’ve come in a short space of time! Can’t even imagine them in the side now..
What was wrong with Luiz or Chambers?
Chambers I agree gets a little more stick than warranted…
but David Luiz…
The Greek wasn’t too bad either.
Chambers wasn’t at the next level.
As for Luiz, he was an expensive over-the-hill brain-farting liability from Chelsea, the all-original square peg in a round hole. Other than that, he was perfect…..🙄
Luiz was our most important player for a while. He was our game plan. Whenever he was injured or suspended we couldn’t find an incisive pass. There was obviously some stuff not to like such as his Chelsea-ness and the occasional brainfart but he was (sadly) our best centreback for much of his time here.
What was wrong with Luiz? Are you on the wind-up?
*places rake on ground* nothing nothing at all wrong with david luiz
And people wonder why we’ve been absent from the ECL for so long – not to mention finishing below those deluded silverware starved tossers becoming an embarrassing habit.
But hey-ho. Fuck it.
That was then – this is now…..
NONE of those four I’ve mentioned here were going to take us to the next level. Look at the defenders we have now, they are at another level.
Chambers had a great strike on him
This guy is a better CB than Holding. Is it because Holding is happy sitting on the bench and Arteta thinks Mari is a player who should be playing somewhere?
What makes you say that? Holding is a good backs to the wall defender, even while he has limitations in other situations (e.g. when the ball’s at his feet or when the opposition has more space in which to run around him). I can’t think of a situation where I’d rather have Mari in the side, but I’m interested to hear your reasoning.
Don’t encourage him, FFS……😞
Holding’s physical height, so tall, football height so short. Worse timing at defending headers in the PL.
So it’s because you think he’s bad at defending headers?! Can’t agree with you there. Defending against a million crosses is when he’s proven most useful. There’s more to dealing with long balls than just being tall.
You are to obtuse posts what Alan Shearer was to good but strangely annoying goals.
Prolific.
He might be technically better than Holding, but Holding is a better defender, if that makes any sense. Mari is good for Serie A, but he’s too slow for the Premier League.
Funny thing is, he and Holding featured prominently in a defence that also featured no discernable first choice right back, yet conceded 9 goals fewer (not an insignificant amount) than last season’s. Not saying they’re better than what we have now but he’s nt terrible like some make out. Agreed tat Serie A will be a good fit. Any pictorial dictionaries should have a picture of Mari next to the definition of the word ‘journeyman’.
So, is Holdini the new scapegoat?
I hope he can be happy there, help keep them up, and be settled for a while. Gabi Marinelli loves him so he must be a really nice person, I wish him all the very best.
Need a poo-ommeter for the Lokonga to Milan loan story..
You need the toilets from ‘Trainspotting’ for that amount of shit.
I have a feeling it might malfunction if used.
A lokonga loan would be good. No chance it’s Milan though.
There isn’t enough poo in the universe for that.
Not at ‘the next level’ but I wish him well.
I’ll be rooting for Monza now to keep their Serie A status.
Pablo Mari can chip in his bit by helping them keep clean sheets and setting a new record for the highest scoring defender in a season in Serie A.
In summary: Best Wishes, Buddy.
I’ve nothing against Mari or Monza, but Berlusconi is a global inspiration for crooks running countries.
Here’s hoping Monza stay up. A permanent move to a club whete he’s a regular starter is important at this stage of his career, not to mention 7 million euros is a lot more than I was expecting. I’ve never wished Berlusconi luck before but for Mari’s sake I do.
*where, not whete
I hope Monza stay up. Tough task, though. Surprised that we were able to get this in light of all the cancelled contracts or low sales. Must be because his salary might be considerably less than that of Kolasinac, Mustafi, Bellerin, Torreira or Leno.
Impressive gnashers