Pablo Mari has indicated he’d be happy to stay in Serie A when his current loan deal with Udinese expires.
The 28-year-old moved to the Dacia Arena in January and has been a near ever-present in the heart of caretaker coach Gabriele Cioffi’s defence.
Having featured just once for Arsenal in the first half of the season, Mari has started eight of Udinese’s last nine games. The only game he missed came as the result of a suspension.
“When I arrived in January, I had a clear and precise idea,” he told Gazetta dello Sport.
“I told the coach and [club owner] Gino Pozzo that I was coming to play. But I realized that I had to earn the job day after day, workout after workout. [Coach] Cioffi was the first who welcomed me, well, here.
“It’s the right championship for me. Very tactical. I try to bring the attacker towards me.
“I really like having the ball and here it can be done and then there is the battle and I like having a battle on the pitch. I would like to stay in Italy.”
He added: “I’m very well at Udinese and I’d be happy to take the club even higher in the standings. Of course, I still have a two-year contract with Arsenal.
“I’ve resumed playing continuously after the operation on my left ankle where I was out for five months.”
It’s great to hear that Pablo is enjoying his football in Italy.
When we last heard from him in March, he was singing Mikel Arteta’s praises and keen to make clear that he still dreams of making it at Arsenal.
In truth, with Gabriel and Ben White doing well this year and William Saliba likely to be brought back into the fold, it seems very unlikely Mari will get his chance to shine in London. With that in mind, we suspect the club won’t stand in his way if Udinese, or another Italian club, come forward with a half-decent offer this summer.
Good for him, a move makes sense for all involved. What we can’t have though is Udinese messing us around with the fee.
I wonder if Udinese are picking up all his wages because that’s probably going to be the biggest obstacle to Arsenal at least getting their money back on the fee paid to his Brazilian club?
Too slow for England. Remember him getting dumped on his arse by one of the Wet Spam droids on his debut. Good luck to him in Italy
Well, he is happy with his current challenge, suits his style. PL is a lil bit pacy for his liking. Nevertheless wish him all the best. As a defender age is still on his side. We need to make this a good business and get some decent amount for him
If he wants to stay in Italy, then fair play to him.
I don’t think he’s really at the level required for Arsenal – simple as that. We tried, but it hasn’t worked.
We’d do well to let him leave and be somewhere where he’ll be happy and get regular football.
Then sign someone who is good enough.
Who cares about Pablo Mari? He’s not important in the great scheme of things. He’s a few questions that I’d like answered: 1: why did we sell our only quality striker and not even bring in a loan player to replace him? 2: why did we allow a very useful squad player like Maitland-Niles to leave the club and not replace him? 3: why did Arteta badly weaken our midfield by playing Xhaka at full-back against Brighton? 4: why does Arteta persist with Laca even though he’s has been awful recently? 5: why is Pepe being being ignored? Does the… Read more »
There are actually some very good questions there, which in themselves don’t merit all the thumbs down, although I would imagine that it’s your first five rather unnecessary words which made most people’s minds up there. A shame, because it’s an otherwise good post, if off-topic in this instance.
I agree with you and (3, 4 & 5 questions)
Let me suggest two possible answers to number 1. Assuming letting Aubameyang go was necessary (without regard to why it evolved to that point), then it seems that either:
(1) Arteta and Edu wanted to bring in a striker on loan (or permanently if that was possible) but none of the remotely likely candidates were available. The first choice replacement had no interest in coming to Arsenal (or England, for that matter) and went to Juve. The second choice’s club were not interesting in selling. Etc.
(2) Arteta and Edu are not as smart as you.
Shouldn’t really be saying who cares about Pablo Mari, would be better asking why hasn’t he worked out better for us. Some pretty valid questions too
1 to 4 Fuck knows.
5. Pepe can’t press or tackle, and always cuts inside. I assume Arteta thinks Eddie at least puts in a shift, even if they both barely reach single figures in the PL.
6. No.
But Eddie doesn’t put in a shift. He stands around while N’ham runs circles ‘round him. No efforts, mails it in. Never want to see him again after he moves to whatever Championship or League One side he signs with.
Apologies, that was harsh and vitriolic, even if true. No aspersions on Eddie the human being, just on Eddie in kit, on the pitch!
I’ll admit, I forgot about Pablo… Though he could be useful as backup in our current state of defence… 1. No champions league makes it hard to attract top strikers I guess. Not sure how much Arsenal knew about Auba moving on so quick… Tricky one. 2. Need to make space for bringing in better players and also not stagnate the young players needing game time. I agree he could still be very useful, maybe will come back even more useful. 3. Yeah… I’m thinking why not play Elneny in LB for these scenarios… He can run and pass whole… Read more »
None of these questions are relevant to an article about Pablo Mari.
‘I’d like to stay in Italy…’
Me too!
He’s a good player, but quite average at most. I’m glad he’s enjoying in Italy, wish him the best.
Serie A is a good fit for Mari. It suits his attributes better. I hope he can get a permanent move because although I don’t think he’s at all bad he was having a bit of a nightmare here since preseason.
No hard feelings.
Good luck in Italy.