Pablo Mari and Edu busted in airport

by .

Charles Watts, take a bow son.


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.

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.

_____

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Marko

Bennacer. Reine Adelaide. We’ve got smarter people at the club so expect similar to happen in the future.

Habesha Gooner

If it is a loan with an option to buy like the athletic are reporting it is a fantastic deal. But I have reservations about making a permanent move for a defender from Brazil. Centerbacks that looked great in Brazil and average in England I know are Funes mori and Yerri Mina. So I have reservations about it. Soyuncu would be a beast for us if signed in the summer. Already adapted to the league.

Marc

Habesha

If it is a loan with an option to buy it’s win win. The guy can’t cope with the pace of the PL then we don’t take up the option to buy. If he’s doing the business we’ve got a bargin.

Dream10

Habesha

Think it’s a permanent deal. 4m now and 4m in the summer. Something about a 40% sell on clause I’m reading. Not sure how accurate. I’m not familiar with what type of clauses are allowed in the PL.

Guns of SF

Mustafi must be utterly miserable.
Not only does he have to deal with making shitty mistakes day in and out. He is pushed farther down the ladder.
Lad needs to just man up and leave the club…. the longer he stays, the more teams will back off from him. his value drops, his salary as well.

Habesha Gooner

Marc yeah exactly. Dream 10 If that is the case we must have a plan to offload some of our centerbacks because we have Luiz, Mari, Sokratis, Mavropanos, Chambers, Holding, Mustafi and Saliba. 8 centerbacks which I think is insane even if they are quality let alone average.

Marc

Freddie

I can’t see us buying Lemar this window – we don’t have the money unless we sell and the candidate that keeps getting mentioned is Auba which would just be crazy. It’d be putting Arteta in an almost impossible situation.

Don’t get me wrong if we do make the signing happen I’ll be happy but I just can’t see it.

If Chambers hadn’t of gotten injured we wouldn’t be doing any incoming business this window.

Freddie Ljungberg

Marc There’s been talk of a loan with option to buy, he hasn’t settled there and they need to free up space from their wage bill. Not saying it will happen either but it would be nice to have someone in the middle of the park that can make something happen more than twice a season. We need a significant upgrade in the Cam position if we’re going to address our lack of goal scoring and creation for our forwards, if we have a shot to do it now why wait? Especially if Ceballos is leaving, that leaves us with… Read more »

Marc

Habesha

I think if you look at the current CB’s then you’ve got to write off Chambers for most of next season, I don’t think Mavropanos is going to work out so he’ll be sold as will Mustafi. If Holding can get back up to speed and demonstrate he can stay injury free then I would be surprised to see Sok sold.

So those 8 CB’s can be whittled down quite easily.

Dream10

Habesha

Mavropanos will be on loan/sold this summer. Chambers is injured so he’ll be a backup. Reckon Holding is the one who will suffer the most from Mari and Luiz’s signings this season. I can see one ofSokratis/Mustafi sticking around for another 18 months. Upamecano/Konaté will have many suitors this upcoming summer.

For 20/21
Luiz/Pablo Mari
Saliba/Sokratis/Chambers

Marc

Freddie

I’m not arguing we shouldn’t do it – I just don’t think we have the money. If Sanllehi can put a loan deal together with an option to buy then great. It also gives us an option on the LW as well.

Graham62

Wasi The Arsenal Fanbase are a unique bunch. Some on here blame our demise on our new regime, which obviously included Emery. Then there are a large core of supporters who see our failings manifesting from around 2015 when Wenger was showing obvious signs of wear and tear and there are those of us, like myself, who saw the writing on the wall over a decade back, when the emphasis was more on qualifying for top 4 rather than pushing hard for that winning mentality. The values you speak of were a smoke screen. “Oh look at us, we’re doing… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

We are putting a lot of faith in Pablo Mari to solve our issues then. I am hoping it is actually a loan with an option to buy. Where are you guys getting the “4 mil now and 4 mil in the summer with a 40 % sell on clause in the summer” info from? Any way If he truly works out ( I doubt it will) we may not sign any centerback in the summer. I would love it if it did. Our centerbacks then would be Mari, Saliba, Luiz, Chambers and Holding which probably means Sokratis, Mavropanos and… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

Link to the permanent deal structure of the pablo Mari deal please?

Wasi

Graham62
” I want us to progress and develop as a club. I wanted that under Wenger. I wanted that under Emery. I now want it under Arteta. It’s what all Arsenal fans want, a club that we can all be proud of.”

Pretty much me.

Marc

Mourinho is moaning about Inter’s pursuit of Eriksen which is just plain funny and the Spud’s have another replay.

We really need to get our shit together – if we can St Totteringhams day is on for this season.

Champagne Charlie

“I’m game for using super agents sparingly, but when they’re being interjected in so many deals that go badly, it’s clearly not a positive.‘If we’re doing something shit, but it works out, then it’s ok’ is such a narrow and miserable view of what football is all about.“

Yep, pretty much what I was saying earlier. Don’t fancy putting too much wind in Raul’s sails or he might start leaning heavily on his pals and that’s not a pretty thought.

Northbanker

On an individual level, he made the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A Team of the Year in 2019. Comments on Daily Cannon Re Pablo Mari Brazilian journalist Tiago Cordeiro told Chris Davison Mari is a great passer, very tall but agile nonetheless. He isn’t the fastest defender, but he anticipates danger well. When he first left Europe he was a little clumsy but is growing out of that. Tim Stillman adds that Mari suits the Arsenal style, as Flamengo play aggressive possession-based football with a high defensive line. The centre-back is also left-footed, which is a boost for the Gunners’ squad.… Read more »

The backpass

Ilicic take a bow. Atalanta Absolutely dismantling Torino.

At least Sirigu save Gomez shot. 5-0 presently.

Northbanker

My main concern with agents is that it prevents us from doing what we should be doing for sustainability – buying gems at low prices. That is where proper scouting and to an extent data analytics (to the extent that they’re useful for players with lower league or youth experience) are vital

Agents and their contact books are however useful for selling high at the top

The backpass

Walter Mazzarri needs to be sacked after this match and take laxalt( uruguays left back) him. I remember when there were noise here to sign him after the world cup. Don’t think I have seen him have a good game.

Thorough

If we’re buying Lemar to play CAM/Playmaker I’ll say a capital NO. There’ll be quite a few of those type of players available in the summer.
Josip Illicic has been playing on an outrageous level for nigh on 3 years now.
Coutinho isn’t having it so well at Bayern and Bild already said they’re sending him to Barca.
I’ve heard a lot about Havertz.
Maddison is another outrageous talent who won’t need any period of adaptation.

Daniel Altos

Atalanta handing another pasting,this time to Torino…absolute joy to watch this team…scoring goals straight out of a video game ffs…

Marc

Northbanker

“My main concern with agents is that it prevents us from doing what we should be doing for sustainability – buying gems at low prices.”

Martinelli?

Marc

Thorough

“Maddison is another outrageous talent who won’t need any period of adaptation.”

Er English and from the PL so that’ll only be a £100 million transfer then. Never buy English from the PL unless it’s someone so under the radar as to be invisible.

Daniel Altos

The funny thing is Torino haven’t been really that bad tbh….it’s just that Atalanta are class

Pierre

Graham
“The truth of the matter is that from around 2009 we became a laughing stock. ”

I presume you are talking about yourself..

Batistuta

Atlanta the most entertaining team in Italy 2 years running now, play some of the best football in Europe too, Illicic and Papu Gomez brilliant and now they’ve got Zapata back from injury. Fancy them against Valencia in the champion league.

Gosens is one player I’d be recommending for Arsenal

Marc

Pierre

When did you stop going again?

The backpass

Muriel makes it 6, its really a horreo show for torino, Miete is one stupid player, shades of xhaka.

The backpass

Muriel makes it 7. Stupid red card comitted from the best of the rubbish torino players today

Thorough

Marc.
We bought Pepe for 72 quid.
If we want top talent we’ve got to pay top dollar. And I expect our next marquee signing to be an Ozil replacement.

The backpass

Referee consoling Belotti, it was actually a good game.

7-0

Marc

Thorough

I’ve no problem with paying top dollar for players – I have an issue with paying a ridiculous premium for English players who are at best average.

If Maddison is so good why aren’t Madrid or Barca after him? In fact how many of the current England squad play abroad?

Marc

backpass

That’s not a score line that’s an assault.

The backpass

Batistuta

Gosens is one player I’d be recommending for Arsenal.

Fantastic player.

The backpass

Marc

Lol.

I actually wanted to stop watching after first half, but just had to continue, i wish we play like them, quick interchanges, fast counters.

It was really an assault.

johnno

De Bruyne and Salah didnt “make it” at Chelsea. Pogba didnt “make it” at United the first time around. Doesnt have to mean anything. The guy is a 6ft 4 left footed CB that’s 26 years old. I suspect he’s a street baller too who likes a scrap. And if its a loan with a move to a permanent move – Id say this is business that suits us right now and anyone who expects more hasnt been paying attention to how both Arsenal and the January window in general roll. He could be a first choice player next year… Read more »

Marc

johno

It was all going so well until you allowed Mustafi into the stadium. I’d prefer another continent under ideal circumstances, another country will suffice, I’d accept another team in the PL if I thought there was anyone stupid enough to buy him.

Danny S

If this guy is a defensive organiser then we should go for him. We need that.

Pierre

Marc
“When did you stop going again?”

Never.

Marc

Pierre

So you still regularly go to matches?

Pierre

Marc I would say occasionally, 5 or 6 times a season. I have family who live in and around the London area who are season ticket holders up where you sit in the north bank Used to take my 2 boys to highbury when I could during the overmars, Henry bergkamp, Fabregas era from the age of 4 through to 16 …. what a time to grow up watching The Arsenal . I used to go to nearly all home games and some away from about 1967 through to late 70’s…including all the cup finals Swindon , leeds twice ,… Read more »

Marc

Pierre

Hastings way or further afield?

Pierre

Not quite but in the southern region.

Once I moved to the coast I juggled my time between work , kids(beach) , music,
playing football, watching my kids play football , golf, so going to Highbury/ Emirates was lower down the list.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

This pablo buy don’t sit right with me.

Not sure he can cut it in the prem having spent most of his career playing in lower leagues.

I’m prepared to be. Wrong.
He ain’t fast but is said to read game well.

Well see.

Valentin

The Pablo signing is a strange one. On one hand maybe it is based on Arteta recommendation, but then in view of ManCity situation why was he never offered a chance there. So on the other hand he could be the result of a well connected agent sweet talking Raul and Edu into giving a good payday to a journeyman. Before rejoicing that he can’t be worse than Mustafi, let see him play in the fast and furious EPL with little to no protection from midfield. I remember people presenting the same argument about Lichsteiner: he is a proper defender… Read more »

Guns of SF

With Torreira staying back more it might help … however I worry about his being exposed on breakaways … let Luiz push up more and have Marí stay back more

Dissenter

It doesn’t make any economic sense in my opinion, to get this Pablo lad on a loan.
If our scouting led us to him…then we might has well just buy him outright.
His wages can’t be more than Guendouzi makes right now, about 30k weekly coming from Brazil.
He’s the quintessential low risk signing- he doesn’t even seem to be surrounded by a posse of agents like players tend to have these days.

Dissenter

I wonder why people feel uneasy about signing a defender who started in a Copa Libertadores winning side
…when they were happy to work themselves into a frenzied state sapping up Mavropanos on the basis of ONE good game.

Useroz

From the YouTube clips Mari has good aerial abilities. Well., scenes where he lost aerial duels wouldn’t make it to the clip by definition!!? He isn’t pacy. Clips show he’s willing to make blocks. Also show few times he scored with headers; and a couple of long passes. That’s it. Basic. No thrills. Great option for poor clubs.

Gonsterous

I don’t get January loan signings. Especially a non PL player. I hope the defender comes good but he needs an adaption period and then he needs to fight for his place in the side.
We could just throw him in the deep end but that is a risk to the players confidence as well as our points.

Time will tell just like with everything else, right??

Gonsterous

Just read reports that it’s a permanent move for 7.5m.
If we move on mustafi and sok, maybe we can free up some money to put it towards a CM in the summer.

Sid

This is a great signing, up there with Torr, Martinelli signings, more of these type of deals needed. Even Mavro when sold will make money for the club. Dortmund 2.0
Xhaka, mustafinovs, mikhi, even (ozil and Laca could be in this group) type of signings are the ones to avoid. Lemar and the hunchback of ukraine fall in this category.

Im telling you this for free!

Habesha Gooner

Gonsterous
Can you please post any links saying it is a permanent move?
The athletic and sky are reporting it is a loan with an Option to buy.

Zacharse

I imagine he slipped through the cracks at city which isn’t really a stretch. I do remember them buying a series of overpriced star name defenders w big agents. Especially as he was on loan a lot of the time which isn’t a great booster for team spirit which this guy, judging from the clips and a solid run that nearly got them the club world championship, seems to hve plenty of

peanuts&monkeys

Does this Lemar story have any truth? If so, is he Laca replacement?

peanuts&monkeys

“That’s it. Basic. No thrills. Great option for poor clubs.”

Haha. Nailed it.

Chris

More and more managers, of lower league clubs also, calling for FA Cup replays to be scrapped. I get that money spinning replays are a good financial gain for a lot of clubs, but I have felt we have been at that point for a few years where they should be scrapped altogether. Semi final replays were done away with years ago I believe, and they only go up to the 5th round now I think. The trouble is if 2 PL clubs have to go to replays in the early rounds it is a pain for all concerned. I… Read more »

Graham62

Chris

Regrettably, I have to agree with them.

Neutral grounds for semis is a must, as playing them at Wembley has devalued the competition.

Ishola70

Dissenter “I wonder why people feel uneasy about signing a defender who started in a Copa Libertadores winning side” I like watching a bit of Libertadores and South American football. I like it’s old school feel and passion of the fans in the stadium. But it has to be said that overall the Libertadores is on a lower level than the European competitions as would be the case with Brazilian League matches. Sure you get some good younger players coming through in South America but overall their teams are on a weaker level. Flamengo holding Liverpool to a tight match… Read more »

Ishola70

Shame to see that the FA Cup continues to see teams putting out weaker sides not their full first teams. And the sides that are most guilty of this are just as much if not more the lower league underdog side in the tie. That’s not to say that there are not good matches played with these under strength teams put out but it devalues the competition no doubt. Most matches yesterday saw teams put out understrength teams. One of the underdogs in one tie yesterday replaced their entire first eleven from their previous league match. I wonder what Pierre… Read more »

Freddie Ljungberg

A bit more on Pablo. Consensus seems to be that he’s a bit slow, but has all the other qualidees needed. Hopefully he adapts quickly if he comes.

https://www.gunnerstown.com/arsenal/2020/01/26/exclusive-interview-with-brazilian-football-expert-on-pablo-mari-the-pros-and-cons/

Ishola70

Maybe one to keep an eye on.

Fer Nino the youngster come off the bench for Villarreal to score the winner against Alaves yesterday. He took his goal well.

Big rangy striker who has been noted for his goalscoring exploits at youth level.

And wow Atalanta winning 7-0 away in Serie A yesterday. Really good things going on at that club under the guidance of Gasperini.

Daniel Altos

Am I the only one who is worried about Saliba?The guy is getting alot of injuries and it’s not looking good

zaco

so many sad people complaining about Pablo Mari, I guess these same people would have complained if Arsenal Signed Salah from Roma and KDB when he was at Chelsea, you would have all been disappointed for the signing of Chelsea rejects. the same people would have all been disappointed if arsenal had signed Mahrez when he was in France instead of a so called Premier league experienced. You blame the club for not buying VVD when he was at Celtic and now blame the same club for buying Pablo Mari because he cost less than 8M and never played for… Read more »

Jamie

I hope it’s a loan with an option to buy. Could be a shrewd move. If he fails to adapt to the EPL, we send him back without any fuss.

Aussie Gooner

Zaco I too do not know why people are so pessimistic about Mari. He was at City at the time they were buying anything with a pulse who looked to have promise. They were overloaded with talent and only 11 can play in each side, so many were loaned out for profit. Even City did not have the resources to process so much talent in such a time period. Hence many slipped under the radar. I don’t know what else he was supposed to do other than do his best in Brazil and end up the best player in his… Read more »

Daniel Altos

Tosun Adurubiayo…22 years straight from the city academy looks a good prospect,any chance we can hijack that one?6ft 5,can pick a pass and relatively quick….crunching tackles too…they have Harwood Belis,Eric Garcia and him…all of them look like good defenders.Which brings me to the question,why can’t the Arsenal Academy produce any meaningful defensive players?Am talking left backs ,centre backs,DMs etc…I look at our academy now and all I see is attacking prospects.

Thorough

FUNNY BUT REASONABLE COMMENT FROM A FLAMENGO FAN: “Flamengo fan here not coming in peace. Give us Pablo back,” they wrote. “You have 48 hours to make him fail the medicals and fly him back to Rio de Janeiro.” The fan also then gave an encouraging statement on how Mari may adapt to the Premier League. “think he can adapt quickly,” they said. “He spent all his career in Europe and only 6 months in Brazil. When he arrived people doubted he would make it because of the culture shock, language, long Brasileirão travels and all that but he played… Read more »

Useroz

It’s a test for Arteta but our ‘potent’ forwards deserve better in MF than what we got. Ozil ain’t going to revive even when he tried in recent games. Who else would come up with the creatives? Not Xhara, nor Guensouzi, Ceballks,, Willock. Did I miss someone? The rest of season is going to be painful if we don’t manage to find some abilities to score more goals. Improved effort, desire and in game management could only help us go so far such as conceding less but it ain’t going to win us more games necessarily. Don’t know who the… Read more »

Daniel Altos

I saw was CG was talking about defenders having to be nasty ugly guys…I mean,the best defender in the world is quite a good looking guy.Troy Deeney from your beloved Watford even admitted that the guy is handsome and smells so nice.

Champagne Charlie

I think Pablo Mari is a good approach to take mid-season. The alternatives are what? Boeteng or similar on 140k for 6 months and a 2/3 mil loan fee? If you’re comparing this lad to a potential Upamecano transfer (or similar) then the expectation is simply wide of the mark for the January window typically, but this one especially after the summer outlay. He does well: we rejoice at smart recruitment He does poorly: we offload for little money and move on. There’s no big fee to justify, there’s no wage impediment. Much prefer this sort of deal given the… Read more »

Unai

Raul has contacts with many agents therefore any deal done with said agents is ‘contacts scouting’ and as such, lacks imagination and makes no sense at all.

We really need to be looking at players without agents or we will never progress.

Unai

CC, agreed.

The signing carries 0% risk unless his back is broken.

Majesticgooner

Signing mari and not addressing the midfield will still leave us open to the same problems we have now, we need a dynamic midfield

Chris

Graham I whole heartedly agree. I don’t know exactly how much money the FA makes from holding the semi finals at Wembley, but going back to having them at neutral venues may be one way to bring back a bit of buzz for the competition? Villa Park is a classic semi final venue for example but these days it could be the Emirates or (sigh) the new Spurs stadium (sigh). I have also now seen that there are to be no 5th round replays and that the round is to be held midweek! This may be to do with the… Read more »

CG

I was mistaken. We now have x 8 center backs on the AFC payroll. Sok,Luiz,Mustafi, Holding, Saliba,Chambers,young greek lad and this Mari. Virtually a given we will only be playing 38 league fixtures next term. Why on earth do we need 8? George Graham never even required 8 CB’s. And why do we need another one right now? How about be patient and give Holding a chance to return to pre ACL form in the remaining games? Suarez ( Spain) loan =FLOP Cebollas (Spain) loan=FLOP Mari( Spain) loan = FLOP? CG has studied him on some video footage and my… Read more »

Nelson

It is a good insurance policy. Luiz is the only decent CB left. The rest all have various problems. Europa Cup games will resume in a month. The schedule will get heavy. There is time to integrate him with the team. It seems that he is very eager to succeed in the EPL.

Mr Serge

We will sell 3 cb at least CG and chambers is out for a year that leaves 4

Zimmie2652

Why can’t our scouting network find guys like Militao when others can? Porto signed him for $7mil and 6-8 months later sold him to Real for $50mil.

There’s another up and coming young guy in Porto, RB with all the intangibles with a buyout of only 10mil. Esteves. All the big dogs are watching him, get in early and strike while the iron’s hot. He turned down Barca so I can only imagine what he’d say to us but then again, I guess that it is the Arsenal way. Put in a dodgy attempt and follow up with “we tried.”

Cesc Appeal

So we can see what’s coming here…Mari is shit and it’s a Sanllehi contacts buy, Mari is good and it’s sauce buy from Arteta and Edu. Arteta quite clearly seems to have been suggesting the CBs. The two we were most realistically linked with were Matviyenko and now Mari, Arteta suggestions. This one is on Arteta. If it’s a good buy then fantastic, if it’s not, so what? He made a suggestion in the middle of the season working within a tight budget that was outside the box displaying good general football knowledge and it didn’t work. Far rather that… Read more »

CG

He is so slow.

Look at the footage that’s coming through.
Look at it and weep.

What’s the Salahs ,Traores,Sons, Calvert Lewis’s, Vardys, Watfords quartet of rapod strikers going to do him.?

The game is getting quicker

And in recent seasons we seem to be recruiting more and more plodders.

We will get roasted of we play ‘Louise’ and ‘Mary’ together at the back.

It’s no surprise he never made it a City.

China1

Lemar for laca is a gamble I could totally get behind

I hope it happens

Spanishdave

Most CB s are not speed merchants they need to be readers of the game .
Their marking and closing down qualities are key factors.
He can head a ball and seems to be able to clear the danger quickly.
Mustafi must go for his own good but who wants him?
We need a mid though.

China1

Ishola like I always say, give the 4th place CL qualification spot to the FA cup winners and you’ll see the competition get a massive kick in value and prestige overnight

It’s really quite ridiculous that 4th in the league gets a spot but the FA cup winner doesn’t

Northbanker

China – like that suggestion. It has my backing!! lol CG – no good quoting George Graham – game has moved on massively. GG did however always ensure he had a good selection of CBS – Keown, Linighan, Pates etc who couldn’t shift Adams and Bould. We need 5 CBS imo, one of which can be flexible. We have Luiz able to play DM. Chambers is a RB by trade. Sok, Mustafi and Mavropanos all likely to be moved on. So we have 5 and possibly 6 if we get Upamecano. That works for me as we may not exercise… Read more »

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

No to lemar he didn’t want to come a couple of years back so fuck him now.

Would rather we looked elsewhere .

Northbanker

Each new CB signing should raise our defensive quality by at least 10%. We can’t just not sign someone because we have numerical quotas already. In an ideal world we’ll offload the minute a new signing is made

Northbanker

RSPC – an example of cutting your nose to spite your face.

If he’s the best option now and he realises he made a mistake (maybe he didn’t fancy playing under the declining force of Wenger?) then surely we do the deal to improve the team?

S Asoa

Reg Wasi
What one has against agent-driven deals is COTERIE ,a big bad word loaded in fiscal impudence

Reg Emery signing , without absolving Gazidas , Raul was the only bloke who compreno what was going on .Unethically used Arteta dossier presentation to push the Fraud Emery. Highest treason would merit a firing squad in any Banana Republic

Habesha Gooner

One Good thing that comes with this Mari signing is we will see how shameless Mustafi might be. No one will take him on a bosman if he doesn’t have the self respect to want to play rather than sitting on his ass for the next 18 months.

CG

Northbanker “””””Each new CB signing should raise our defensive quality by at least 10%.””””””” Well, not if they are as good as the ones you have in place. This Mari Chap- is just another Pascal Cygan type. Very tall, very left footed, very slow and very cheap to purchase ( thats why he has been pimped all over the globe and is playing in South America) he is nowhere near as good as Holding or Sok. They are proper defenders. If he was any good- he would not be playing in Brazil during his peak years. (Dont be so delightfully… Read more »

Habesha Gooner

I don’t get athletico’s stance on lemar. Just because they spent 65 mil on him and he flopped any one that comes for him must pay the same price? That’s how market works, If your player is performing well his value skyrockets if not it drops. They don’t see us demanding 30 mil + for Mustafi do they.

Champagne Charlie

“This Mari Chap- is just another Pascal Cygan type.“

Cygan was underrated, if were bringing in Cygan II for 7 mil you won’t find me complaining.

Unai

Find myself wondering what happened in CGs childhood to make him hate the Spanish so much??