Charles Watts, take a bow son.
Pablo Mari has just arrived at Heathrow with Edu and he tell me he is excited to be joining Arsenal.
Medical to take place this weekend. pic.twitter.com/6VY1RM3wJL
— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) January 25, 2020
The Goal journo caught Edu and Pablo Mari walking out of the airport, which can lead us to one of two conclusions, the Spaniard is our new defensive signing, or he and Edu are into lads trips away.
Let’s go with the Spaniard being the first new signing of the Edu era.
He’s a signing out of the left-field, that’s not a problem of course. He has a lot of interesting aspects to his game that could be of benefit to the way we play moving forward.
Firstly, he’s 6ft 4 inches. He’s a monster, which will suit the league and give us good coverage from pesky highballs into the box and from setpieces. He’s a leader, a great organizer, and he’s just off the back of a historic season in Brazil.
The Spaniard, who moved the opposite way transfers from Europe and South America usually happen, has been owned by Manchester City for 3 years. So Mikel will know him intimately, though he’ll have never worked with him directly. This from Mari in Athletic earlier this season.
“In my mind, I was moving to Manchester but I’d only been there once for my medical,”
“I signed for City in 2013 but I’ve never met Pep Guardiola or any of the first-team players. I’d love to one day speak to him because he’s one of the greatest ever coaches. And when I signed for City, I did so because I felt that one day, I could play for them.”
His best European loan spell came when he had a 38 game roll with Deportivo when they were in the Segunda Division, but he struggled to land a contract anywhere until Flamengo offered him a 3 year deal under Jorge Jesus. The exBenfica manager had this to say of his star defender.
“He has been superb for me, not just on the field but off it. He wants you to be the very best footballer you can be and also the best person you can be. He wants players to express themselves but be humble. He wants players to be serious about their football. It’s not easy being 11 hours away by plane from your home but he made it easier for me to adapt — the training ground is top quality too — and the coach is one of the best in the world. It’s a great feeling to have the confidence of your coach.”
ESPN had a good paragraph on what he’s offered the free-flowing football of Flamengo this season.
‘The 26-year-old was signed from Manchester City, who had parked him on loan at Deportivo La Coruna. Given City’s defensive problems this year, they could have made a mistake letting him go, because he has been a vital part of the Jorge Jesus jigsaw. Without his capacity to play in and organize a high line, the team would be stretched out and vulnerable, with a gaping hole in front of the defence. The steadiness of the Spaniard allows the two veteran full-backs, Rafinha and Filipe Luis, to spend more time in the opponent’s half than in their own, constructing the play from the back.’
The player is coming in on a loan deal apparently, presumably with a view to a permanent deal if he performs well.
I have no idea what to expect, though I was pleased to see him having a pretty solid game against Liverpool in the FIFA Club Cup Final, and this highlights reel from a Flamengo fan has some good bits.
Saudades meu XERIFE😢 pic.twitter.com/faxYNVKvsF
— Rosely Pereira ᶜʳᶠ (@roselypereirafl) January 25, 2020
There are obviously some worries with this signing. He’s a late bloomer who struggled to catch the eye whilst at City, that doesn’t mean he’ll not be great, but a watch out. Coming from the Brazilian League to the Premier League is going to be a shock to his system, so it’s going to be a baptism of fire. Asking players to adapt from any league in 2 weeks is always tough, but I guess when it’s a choice of his rustiness or Mustafi, it’s a no-brainer.
There’s also the same familiar contacts approach to scouting that has been going on since Sven left. This is another player represented by someone very close to Raul. This time it’s Arturo Canales, who according to Phil Costa was also asked to represent the Shaktar defender we’ve been sniffing around. Canales has been in and around Arsenal for a while. Unai Emery coincidentally switched to his agency after a very strong recommendation from his agent in waiting. This is Emery to Marca in 2018.
“Why I was chosen by Arsenal? I was a part of a list of eight candidates, as Ivan Gazidis said. But Arturo Canales [not yet his agent] insisted that I was the best candidate of all,”
Firstly, he clearly wasn’t the best candidate available. Secondly, why would an agent’s opinion carry any weight at all? Regardless of why Raul was sweet-talked in this situation, the murky nature of his involvement started to look very odd when he was allegedly pushing for Emery to get a new 4-year deal right after seeing a car crash end to the season that culminated in the worst cup final defeat in a generation… then he took an age to pull the trigger, despite watching the worst Arsenal start in 38 years.
These agents are in it for themselves and when you see the same names crop up over and over again, it worries you that we’re being pointed in the direction of curveball signings through recommendations, versus deeply interrogated data analysis. Players are the lifeblood of the club, I really hope we’re going deeper than a finger pointing in a certain direction when making decisions, because contacts scouting is the past, and we need to be heading towards the future if we’re to compete at the highest level again.
Still, we’ll at least be looking at a new player… fingers crossed on that medical.
_____
1st
1st
2nd
Tro4hy
Tr4phy
Doh!
And that is how it’s done. Cheers, grooveydaddy! 😀
Hello
Hi
2
Pedro
You do realise that you contradict yourself in the piece.
“has been owned by Manchester City for 3 years. So Mikel will know him intimately, though he’ll have never worked with him directly.”
to:
“There’s also the same familiar contacts approach to scouting that has been going on since Sven left. This is another player represented by someone very close to Raul.”
It really looks as if you have to find a reason to find fault with Sanllehi at any given opportunity.
At least we are moving swiftly over deals with the Edu
Pablo Mari…. Who? A very underwhelming signing it seems. I guess he didn’t exactly impress during his loan otherwise City would’ve taken him back especially given how short they are defensively.
MarcJanuary 25, 2020 16:11:42
PedroYou do realise that you contradict yourself in the piece.
He’s just covering his back incase things dont work out it wont be the fault of the saucy one.
Im telling you this for free!
Pedro, if he turns out to be a hit, will u still complain about contact scouting? You indeed taking certain issues way overboard. Pipe down.
For us to be successful we need both scouting and contacts. Cheerio!!!
Upstate
The guy was the main defender in a side that went to the club championship and help liverpool quiet for the better part of 120 min. Its only left field because you dont follow brazilian football. Otherwise youd have a completely different take
Held*
“The exBenfica manager had this to say of his star defender.” “He has been superb for me, not just on the field but off it. He wants you to be the very best footballer you can be and also the best person you can be. He wants players to express themselves but be humble. He wants players to be serious about their football. It’s not easy being 11 hours away by plane from your home but he made it easier for me to adapt — the training ground is top quality too — and the coach is one of the… Read more »
“Like I said earlier not really bullying but more sad boredom from you. It’s also very very common there’s me, Bamford, Receding, Joe, Freddie, Jaime, Paulinho a couple others that’s a lot of sad boredom. I wouldn’t class how I respond to Don bullying I’d say it’s more comeuppance for a known racist buffoon but anyway move on if you can.“ Le Grove is for Marko it would appear, apparently interacting with any of the usual posters isn’t par for the course, it’s boredom. I’m bored for posting here, meanwhile he posts more than anyone and was on here at… Read more »
There’s also the same familiar contacts approach to scouting that has been going on since Sven left.
As head of recruitment Sven signed Aubameyang, Mhikitaryan, Sokratis (players he’s worked with), Guendouzi, Torreira, Lichtsteiner, Leno and Mavropanos.
Thought Edu’s face was priceless, thoroughly underestimated Arsenal twitter tracking flights and gathering a welcome wagon.
Laughed it off mind.
I have no idea about Pablo but I am drawing comfort from the fact Arteta worked with him at City and thus, must be knowing about him a great deal. His CV is not quite impressive but may be he is a late bloomer. If nothing else he turns out to be better than Mustafi at the very least, that’s our job done. Even more so if we can offload Mustafi for more money than what we are paying for Pablo. We have Saliba, Holding, Chambers and Luiz in our squad, so it’s not like Pablo will need to be… Read more »
“I have no idea about Pablo but I am drawing comfort from the fact Arteta worked with him at City and thus, must be knowing about him a great deal.”
Did he really?
No clue about this Pablo guy and can’t say anything about him.
I’m tell you this for free.
“I know
Very Bamford but if you want to claim I’m thick then back it up.
I’m 22 points above the average in my country”
You are doing a swell job backing it up. No help needed, you are doing great
Sad boredom case in point. Was willing to move on and leave it in the previous post but Charlie needs to be the center of attention I suppose.
Valverde will be having a slight chuckle to himself watching the Valencia vs Barca game
I am drawing comfort from the fact Arteta worked with him at City and thus, must be knowing about him a great deal.
You do realize that he’s spoken of never met any coaches at City he was loaned out straight away until he left.
Marko
Oh is that how it goes? You fire off chapter and verse about me and then when I respond I’m looking to be centre of attention?
Quite something. If I didn’t respond were you then trying to be centre of attention? Or is that chat reserved for me? Just like the bullying claims?
I’m learning so much from you.
“Marko and Baldy still can’t accept that Mustafi won’t startWhit to blame? Panic stations”
And you say you aren’t thick ……no one believes you don
Receding
That’s bullying.
I’m bored for posting here, meanwhile he posts more than anyone and was on here at 3am last night.
The sad boredom comes from constant arguing and cuntish comments towards people not even around. You’ll get it eventually
Beat me to it Receding!
Man Messi leaving is going to hit Barca so hard their fall will probably be worse than United’s
Oh is that how it goes? You fire off chapter and verse about me and then when I respond I’m looking to be centre of attention? Eh when it’s on a previous post and someone is looking to move on so as to not bore people with another episode of the Charlie show yes it’s you looking to be the center of attention. I dunno what earlier was when you were mouthing off at someone who wasn’t around. Probably a new age bravery thing or something. It was very impressive all the same. Hey quick post up some of the… Read more »
I’m 22 points above the average in my country
You sure are
Receding
Arteta won’t have worked with Mari but I’d be surprised if he hadn’t followed his progress and have a very good idea of his attributes and weaknesses
Receding/Marko
I am assuming Arteta worked with Pablo in pre-season. If Pablo is on record saying he didn’t work with any of the City coaches, then my assumption may be incorrect.
And by that I mean full video analysis over a period of time and not YouTube clips
“I signed for City in 2013 but I’ve never met Pep Guardiola or any of the first-team players.”
TR7 doesn’t sound like he was at preseason training
Anyway I’m very happy with this deal esp if it is a loan with an option. I se him as being a potentially solid deal rather than an outstanding grab , with the need for a top class CB in the summer. Time will tell
With Luiz out for presumably 3 games we may se him in action quite soon. I assume Holding will play on Monday?
“Man Messi leaving is going to hit Barca so hard their fall will probably be worse than United’s“
Raul didn’t exactly oversee a coherent recruitment policy in his time at Barca. I think that’s where a lot of the fear comes in, they’re not the side you’d consider a blueprint for success in that regard.
Marko
The Charlie show… that’s a new one, probably a lot more interesting than the Marko show, or are you going to ignore the fact you post here more than anyone and back yourself as the premier source of transfer talk?
Fanny still hurting from getting it kicked yesterday after the outpouring of nonsense about Ceballos/Ozil. Transparent as ever, and still doing your level best to appeal to various false narrative. Banford mentioned 3/4 times now? Receding, Paulinho, the countless others. Absolutely desperate to form some allegiance you whiny prick.
I just hope we aren’t buying stop-gap central defenders. We buy a lot of defenders but none are of real quality…all average or mistake-ridden.
Its a position that is linked with our success or failure. For me its the key position…the foundation block.
With Luiz out for presumably 3 games
One game. Not violent conduct
Charlie
The recruitment he oversaw was an absolute shambles, so much dross accumulated overtime and they’re still going back in for Neymar as he’ll naturally be the one they want to replace Messi….
When Messi doesn’t play or has an off day, they look as ordinary as your average mid-table team
Everyone stop what you’re doing and look at Charles.
Bati
I think that’s what gets the heart fluttering when he gets connected to transfers, not exactly a rap sheet to get you rock hard outside of the most obvious talents being signed.
Remains to be seen what approach we cultivate for ourselves, but one thing is for sure and that’s we don’t have the status to absorb shit player turnover like Barcelona can get away with. So we need to be smart.
A couple really poor signings sure under Raul and Barcelona but I’m not sure how bad it was considering the success they’ve had/are having. Certainly poor planning for the future when Messi goes and it’s questionable what’s coming out of la masia these days Fati aside.
From Twitter : Flamengo’s President has released a short statement on a Whatsapp group chat in which many high-ranking club officials are present. He reiterated that Pablo’s move to Arsenal is a permanent one and that ‘the time of bad negotiations is behind us’
Cheap n cheerful ,, the Arsenal way.
From WhoScored
Pablo Mari:
Strengths: Blocking the ball
Weaknesses: Tackling
Erm…
Arsene Wenger
““To all the Arsenal lovers take care of the values of the club”””
What’s up Lee Garvey?
Charlie
He’s a proper contacts person, more than half of his business points to that, i just want to believe we’re smarter as a club…Our transfer policy the last couple of years have been abysmally bad, hope though with signings like Martinelli but we absolutely have to stop stuff like Luiz and Sokratis in the future
Pedro what is your agenda against Raul. Keep blaming him for everything you can, its getting boring and repetitive. If good relations with an agent can get you a deal on your terms than I dont see anything bad in that. Maybe the agent earns some bucks but that is surely better than doing the deal on someone else’s terms As Kay boss said “Pedro, if he turns out to be a hit, will u still complain about contact scouting? You indeed taking certain issues way overboard. Pipe down. For us to be successful we need both scouting and contacts.… Read more »
Flamingo keeping 40% of his economic rights according to the twitter folk..,
Pedro
I thought to sign players in England you need to buy 100% of their rights.
40% sell on clause in the deal for Mari.
Wonderful Wasi.
Why are we 10th?
When Raul arrived at Arsenal- we were 5th.
1/4 billion spent later we are now 10th
Or did I make that up?
Wasi, CG has a great point.
Also, you appear to have just guessed how we brought players into the club.
As for Kay, their comment misses the point. This isn’t about which of contacts or data driven scouting is better… it’s about what contacts says about your club.
Arsenal will own his rights but you can have sell on clauses.
I’ve yet to go on a football blog with such good articles, but such a poisonous comments section.
This is Troll City.
Or did I make that up?
Yep. 200 million not 250.
Pedro what do you have against agents and the like.
Bati My issue with the contacts approach is the greasing payments that can go missing which turns a relatively modest transfer into a bit of a farce. We aren’t built to absorb that type of going’s on too often. That, and more importantly the scope you have for your needs. We need to be scouting the world for the best talent, not the portfolio of a the half dozen guys our man knows. A nice mix of savvy scouting and getting a leg up from a ‘who you know’ is where we need to sit. More so the former imo,… Read more »
Masterstroke
I agree…. the running vendettas on here, arguments for the sake of them, needless battles, and xenophobia, racist comments etc do bring down the quality of the site. Pedro is a good writer but the comments get out of control quite often
CG I agree that Raul has played a part in us being 10th rn. His biggest mistake being Vouching for Emery. But lets not forget ,at the time of us hiring Emery Gazidis held the most power. He was the one leading the search of the manager and it was his final approval that led to Emery being hired. And our first transfer window was led by Sven which got us a mix of good and bad players. Also only Mavro , Torreira and Guen from Sven’s signing were data driven rest were mostly Sven’s old buddies. Pedro How do… Read more »
“Flamingo keeping 40% of his economic rights according to the twitter folk..“
Baffled we don’t see our own younger guys leave the club with more of these sort of clauses inserted.
Huss fanny should be all over this you’d think?
Masterstroke
Welcome to Le – Grove : blog of lube
Worth pointing out that Dortmund just greased the palms of Mino Raoila to get Haaland for 17 million.
Don’t get the deification of Sven, he was mediocre in his time with us. The one proper transfer window we had after he left was better than anything he did. And that was with Raul in charge. Sure he got the manager hire wrong, along with Sven and Ivan btw. But it was corrected in decent time instead of us fiddling our thumbs for another couple of years like Ivan would have. Not his fault we were left with a dozen players that were too old or on too large a contract to get any reasonable money for and a… Read more »
is this a stop gap signing? My take is purely from that min of footage but he looks fairly no nonsense, nothing much there on the ball.
In this market 7.5m isn’t bad for a cb, I’m. Worried though if he is the guy and we are just bargain basement shopping.
Still want to clear out sok and mustafi and get someone like upamencano in
I would always prefer Data driven scouting over a contacts approach. Its a no brainer. But it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a big contacts book and use it when required.
Its like Google,Facebook having ton of your data ( things you search for on the internet, want to buy) but not owning YT,Insta to target you through advertisement.
Strange Metaphor Hope yall get it 😅
If anything a sell. On clause is a good thing, at least flamingo believe this guy could be seriously undervalued
“We’re looking at a complete turnover of a whole squad (bar a few players) within 3 years, that’s almost unheard of at the top of the game as far as I know“
Think you’ll find 3 years sees significant overhaul in most squads.
I like the fact we went back to Brazil to look. Many good players there… a hotbed.
My sons coach (Brazilian) mentioned Brazil send up to 800 players from Brazil to leagues around the world annually!
That says something….
He did say the national team does suffer some as many of these players are not properly trained in the Brazilian way…
Wasi
People willingly and deliberately forget Gazidas selected his chum Raul.
They will scrutinise every Gazidas deal but always skirt over his Raul selection.
(That was the ONE decision- Ivan got right.
It was the others that were wrong.)
Do you agree Arsenal have become a smaller and less classy club since our Wenger left?( forgetting the on pitch side of things-where we clearly have regressed in all aspects)
CC
Sure, how many players do you think we will have left in 18 months time that was here 18 months ago?
Bellerin maybe? Doubt Laca and Auba will still be here, not many others I would imagine we’d like to keep.
Out of 24 players, yes very common Charles. Great white knighting again for you lord and saviour, you just can’t let one slip past you.
“Out of 24 players, yes very common Charles. Great white knighting again for you lord and saviour, you just can’t let one slip past you.“
My lord and saviour? Huh?
What’s the white knighting in reference to?
CG Ifc Ivan got Raul but blaming the Emery hire completely on Raul is just someone trying to push forward his agenda. Im not trying to absolve Raul of blame here but just stating facts. Ivan had Raul and Sven during the complete hiring process. And Raul was vouching for Emery. If both Ivan and Sven had opposed the decision im sure we would have gone with Arteta. Raul must have had support of at least one of Ivan or Sven in that selection process. And the way owned up to the hiring it wad probably him and Raul who… Read more »
And the Ivan* owned up
Pedro, you are free to air your view.
If contacts can get us success like what city and Chelsea have chalked over the years, I’m all for it.
Are u telling me that agents run city and Chelsea? Contacts would have got us Ronaldo, Messi, Mata(before moving to Chelsea), David Villa etc. What some criticising the contacts approach forget is that after scouting, you still need contacts to get the deal done.
What got us Arteta? Scouting or Contacts?
Kay
The other thing Pedro tends to ignore is how important it is to have someone who can close a deal – especially if we’re competing with other clubs for a players signature.
Modernisation, even.
So this Pablo Picasso guy is Man City’s version of Takuma Asano?
Feck it, the past is just an inconvenience, let’s see him play first. 6 months loan with option to buy sounds like finding a way to eat our cake and having it at the same time. Sign the fecker I say. He even does thumbs ups. What’s there not to like?
Marko
I know, he’s been trying to goad someone into an argument all day.
Playing innocent about protecting Wenger from any insinuation of being the main cause of our demise, no it all started after he left you see. He had nothing to do with it.
It’s completely normal for a top club having to change its whole squad in 3 years especially if it’s not sugar daddy financed.
So transparent.
I think his height alone is a huge plus.
Our tallest defender is Luiz- about 6’2
Sokratis about 6 as well as Chambers
Mari is 6’4 or so…
Need that presence in the back, especially on set piece defense
He seems mobile by the youtube highlights…
6 months and he doesnt work out- he goes back to the champs of Brazil.. not a bad deal for him either…
We keeping the powder dry for Upe this summer or someone else…
Sokratis – this is his last year with Arsenal.
“I know, he’s been trying to goad someone into an argument all day.“ Seems like the standard response whenever I disagree with a POV, same sorry lot utterly unable to swallow an alternate POV. Bullying to follow shortly, Marko inevitably drops in to swing from my nutjacket. “Playing innocent about protecting Wenger from any insinuation of being the main cause of our demise“ Fuck me, is that actually the embarrassing narrative you’re on about? I’ve no interest at all in protecting Wenger, it’s 2020, I’ll let you continue that fixation if that’s your goal. Crack right on. Can’t be any… Read more »
It’s completely normal for a top club having to change its whole squad in 3 years
It’s normal to gut a squad (bar Martinelli) that’s top 4 quality too.
£7.5m is peanuts. If he works, great. If not, meh. Journeyman player but he could have a renaissance under Arteta.
We need a partner for Martinelli. Sell Laca and Auba fast.
Ok Charles we just have to wait and see. I’m guessing we’ll have max 2 players left from 18 months ago in 18 months, that’s when most of the wasters that we can’t get rid of contracts expire. Man City isn’t exactly operating on bread crumbs are they. Going to bring up Chelsea and PSG next? Liverpool sold some players that enabled them to replace with multiple quality players. We don’t have that luxury, we all know why so no need to go there again. Just saying it’s natural for us to have a dip while rebuilding the squad from… Read more »
Is it 40% of the resale, or 40% above what we’re paying for him?
Hope he’s not a paulista, pretty bang average
CG
All the facts that you mentioned are a culmination of the continuous decline the club has been in since 7-8 years. Its thanks to owners that arent interested in the club as long as their pockets get filled. Its thanks to a mute board of directors and Ivan who let all of the mediocrity continue. Its due to persisting with so called values instead of changing for the better.Its thanks to hiring a bland manager to right a wronged ship.
If you pin all of this on one man then its completely ridiculous.
Is it 40% of the resale, or 40% above what we’re paying for him?
Future sale.
Freddie
You’re making a mountain out of a molehill. In 3 seasons time there’s significant turnover of talent at every club.
3 years is a chunk of a career in football, and you’re talking as if 18 months ago the squad was compiled and it now needs unpacking because it was shite. Awfully black and white.
Masterstroke
Welcome to the blog of lube
“Future sale.”
When was the last time we inserted a smart clause like this in a contract? Carlos Vela?
“You’re making a mountain out of a molehill. In 3 seasons time there’s significant turnover of talent at every club.” Sure Charles, in fact almost all top clubs change at least 23 of their 24 man squad every 3 years, it’s very common. “you’re talking as if 18 months ago the squad was compiled and it now needs unpacking because it was shite.” It wasn’t compiled 18 months ago, it was accumulated crap over many seasons that never got addressed. It needed unpacking because it was shite, old and overpaid, not only shite. This is why I don’t get those… Read more »