Hi Rich,

I am not going to judge him until I see him play but for that kind of money you would have thought teams around europe would have been all over him like a rash long before now.

Let's face it you do not find many 26 year old hidden gems these days.

Sounds to me like a squad filler kind of signing with little financial downside and plenty of upside if he exceeds expectations.

I would give us a chance of beating any of them. As I said, there are plenty that could go either way but I consider Top Gun’s observation that anyone who thinks we can win the Europa League this season as requiring cognitive therapy to be laughably ridiculous.

I accept the chances are we won’t win as we’re not miles better than all the other teams and there are quite a few rounds to get through. But we certainly have a chance of winning it. I don’t think that means I need cognitive therapy.

Seems like the sort of signing that Hill City would make.

Fingers crossed that he turns out to be a hidden gem bargain. Perhaps Edu had some input too?

Oh there's more.

He hates the commercialisation of the game but has 'commercial' and 'gofundme' buttons on his website.

Also if you google him he runs a construction company from the same address he's registered this joke at...nothing to do with his aim to build a brand new stadium I'm sure.

Bloke's a wrong 'un and a chancer.

Anyway who says Liverpool can't be beaten. Match report from today's game in 1936.

It's a rarity when it happens, but I've actually seen this guy play a few times.

Difficult to judge as he was playing in an abysmal Depor team but he seemed to be the only defender on the pitch quite often. Also it seemed to me he was the only one trying to organise people which is something we need badly. He seems to have progressed greatly in the last year or so and whilst a gamble (which anyone is frankly) he does have something about him and I hope he takes this chance with both feet. If we sign him.

Is Hill City’s stadium in the Lake District or the Pennines?

Talk now that Mari could be on loan with an option to buy. That would make a lot of sense

Interesting. Looking now to be a loan deal with option to purchase. That mitigates the (off pitch) risk I guess. We aren’t really in a position to lash out mega bucks anyway, having wasted what we have spent and also running the risk of infringing the allowable spend regulations.

Arseblogger has wrote some interesting articles over the last few weeks

His one today on the potential new signing is interesting. He’s basically suggesting that rather than arsenal signing players based on scouting the market all our signings are coming from Sanelhi and his associates like agents and ex colleagues. Clearly he’s concerned about it

A post on Football London from a guy calling himself Shaggy:

“Mari what a signing this is going to turn out to be !! The Guy is class why he never got to meet Pep is beyond me and is a question many people must be asking and have to ask !! The guy has been a pivot at the back for Flamengo strong in the air and in the tackle and is brilliant in positioning himself !! and for £7 million wow what a bargain !! and not one main stream Media outlet knew about it ?? just goes to show people how much the main stream are just fake news simply because they dont know anything about much at all !! and just write rubbish to fill space in their papers !! lol well done Edu again !! Regards to Lemar all saying he is finished because he doesnt have a good time in spain with athletico wow what a statement !! many players have turned their careers around by simply going to another club !! why cant Lemar to the same?? whether it will be Arsenal or not doesnt matter to me but i personally think he will come good in his next career move !! a player who was that good that he warranted such a high fee when he moved to athetico from france doesnt just lose it all over one season !! if he comes to arsenal it will free up Aubameyang to play as striker like he is and should”

On the face of it, it sounds quite encouraging. But is Shaggy an ITK who in reality knows nothing? I don’t know as I’ve never heard of him before. But one question is how often has Shaggy actually seen Mari. I imagine he watched the recent Liverpool vs Flamengo game. But other than that, how often does he watch Flamengo or seen him at his other clubs?

I know it was a while ago Soc, but Steve Bould was a 26 year-old second division player and a non-international when he signed for us.

You never know.

everything-you-need-to-know-about-arsenal-target-pablo-mari

https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-re ... ablo-mari/

I'm a bit annoyed at the attitude of some so called supporters, we have been calling for a centre back for ages, we get one and he's being wrote off as rubbish before even kicking a ball,we haven't got Upmecano money, not till summer anyway, bet these doom mongers were spouting off about Martinelli, never heard of him etc, not so noisy now are they, so let's get behind him, the team and the manager, any way must be better than Mustafi.

Hi Dray,

Not sure anyone is writing him off as rubbish. I couldn't possibly call him rubbish because I haven't seen him play, other than the Youtube highlights reel. I obviously hope he's a worldbeater.

I am intrigued by the signing but I do understand fans being slightly sceptical when by all rational thought, based on his career to date, it seems highly unlikely he will be the top, top CB we crave.

That said, CB's do tend to hit their peak later in their careers than midfielders and forwards so he could be a late developer.

Fingers crossed eh.

It's the 25th and the last week of the transfer window. I'm optimistic but also concerned.

If they are I bet Mike Riley’s refs give them a lot more decisions than we get. I suppose it helps if u speak the same lingo.

Just to correct you. There is really silly money available at the club but it is invested in a stadium in Trumpland.

With Martinelli we already had Aubameyang and Lacazette.

By contrast, we have a completely disastrous situation at CB and we are going for the bargain basement yet again.

I hope that your optimism is justified but this does feel a bit Hail Mary.

Doesn’t getting behind the team include getting behind Mustafi?

Little wind up merchant .... " a bit like Mertesacker "

999 , 999 ,999 Arsenal supporters would hope not .

From the clip ; he's excellent in the air , aggressive , has great anticipation ..... that makes him the polar opposite to Per .

Did we sign Mari? I didn't see any announcements. Given the state of our central defense situation (and quality available), any reasonable CB signing is a good signing.

While it was a long time ago and he was not one of ours - Tony Book at Manchester City
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Book

I always loved this story.

After stupidly getting involved with your ridiculous Mancini wind up, I’m going to ignore your pathetic Mertesacker wind up. By the way, if you want to know the opinions of most fans on Per, try reading the latest Gooner. It wasn’t by me and it part of a wider article on the club’s central defenders, but in my view got it right.

"Wenger searching remote jungles in South America and Africa for a cheap herbal cure for his rash, when he could have gone to Boots the Chemist and asked the pharmacist for a tried and tested cream."

This one takes the cake

I just watched the compilation for the wonder passes from Cesc & Santi. Those were wonderful days of Arsenal football. Noticed that we had so many runners in those games, and lots of understanding amongst the players. Even the midfielders were running in to score off the second ball. We no longer have sufficient off-the-ball runners. And of course, none in this midfield can pass like these 2.

Watching the highlights reel of Pablo Mari it seems he is tall, quite physical and likes a slide tackle.

It appears this guy has not played any high level football outside of Brazil so it would be amazing if he can mkae a big impact in the PL.

However, there have been many examples of where players have come into the PL and been excellent despite spending most of their formative years in lower league football but generally it seems to happen more at mid to lower table PL sides than at the elite clubs.

Let's hope that Arteta knows him well from his time at Man City and that this is an inspired signing rather than a a last minute deal done because basically all our other transfer options fell by the wayside.

Meanwhile in NZ Mrs Kiwi says 'what in the world are you rubbing on your private parts. Are you mad.
it stinks.'
Husband who has just come in from repairing the V8 'I read on the internet that a dash of penguin urine plus a large helping of semen from an 8 year old seal can cure anything. Wasn't easy going collecting the samples but I am resilent. I refuse to pay for anything from the bloody chemist. Hes a witch doctor.'

The drawback being that penguins and seals are not the easiest things to grow in your back garden.

Probably already started construction of the penguin enclosure

As much of a witch doctor as the person who makes that claim about “a dash of penguin urine plus a large helping of semen from an 8 year old seal”? Does a single ejaculation provide enough for a large helping, or do you need to combine the semen from multiple ejaculations? And why does the seal have to be eight years old? What’s different about it from a seven or nine year old seal?

Yes Bernard, these are the questions we're all asking ourselves.

All you'd need Greeny would be a bucket of fish and a friendly smile

I agree. I would imagine we’d start favourites against any of them apart from Manchester United, and we’d certainly have a good chance of beating United as well.

Perhaps I’m alone but I do think some people here are exaggerating how bad we are. We have a number of very fine players and I just don’t think we’re as far away from having a splendid team as some make out.

Signing Mari doesn’t take away the need for a top class defender in the summer. I think most Arsenal fans already have it in their head that Saliba will be 1 of the top class CB we need so we just need to find the other. Saliba sounds exciting but he’s 18, never played in the prem and expecting him to come in and lead us out of our defensive troubles is highly optimistic.
Mustafi must go I think all agree on that
Chambers is going to be with us for the next 2 years due to his injury
Saliba, Mari, one more top class in the summer.....then you also have Sokratis and Luiz....both coming to the end of their careers and won’t want to be 4/5th choice so one would have to leave.

That could sort the CB position then we can just concentrate on a RB, a whole new midfield and probably a striker or two when Aubameyang leaves!

Did you forget Holding? He isn’t top class so shouldn’t be first choice. But as a squad back up he’s adequate. I agree it is optimistic to see Saliba not needing time, but if he has as much potential as he’s supposed to it’s presumably a case of finding someone to play with him. Then we could have Saliba plus AN Other as the main two with Mari, Holding and Sokratis (who don’t forget you rated as a worse defender than Mustafi earlier this season) or Luiz. What’s happened to Medley? Could he be another back up next season.

But when we talk of getting rid of players, we must remember it’s the players with most of the say so these days. We can’t just politely ask Mustafi, Sokratis or Luiz to bugger off before their contracts expire unless either they’re willing to go or the club pays their contracts off. We’ve seen that with Özil.

If Usmanov takes over Everton and the rumored interest from the Saudi Arabian crown prince in Newcastle, we may eventually see half the league too rich to go down and an intense fight for the top 6 places.

In other news, the transfer rumors are heating up. We have had some big January transfers before like Reyes and Arshavin. I'm not concerned with big names, just quality players at positions we are desperate for like central defense and defensive midfield.

Hr was the CB for the team that won the Copa Libertadores. That means he is for me a minimum a high quality CB. Maybe not top drawer maybe a rung below that but he is going to be a decent CB.