Charles Watts, the Arsenal correspondent for Goal, has been discussing Pablo Mari and when he might return to action for the Gunners during a recent YouTube video.
The Spaniard, who was once on the books at Manchester City, joined the club from Flamengo, on loan initially, before the transfer was made permanent. Up until now, the 27-year-old, who is valued at £6.3 million (as per Transfermarkt), has appeared just three times for the Gunners but it appears he is closing in on a return, handing Mikel Arteta a boost with regards to his defensive options.
When discussing the 2018/19 Copa Libertadores winner, following Arteta’s pre-match press conference, here is what the journalist had to say:
“Pablo Mari [is] not far away now from being involved for Arsenal, perhaps even on Thursday night in the Europa League, we might see Mari for the first time this season. He’s almost like a forgotten man.”
TIF Thoughts on Charles Watts’ comments regarding Pablo Mari…
You can understand why Watts has referred to the centre-back as a “forgotten man” given he has been sidelined, missing 24 games since June. When fit and available, in our view, it will be interesting to see how often he features given Arteta signed Gabriel Magalhaes, another left-footed centre-back in the summer from Lille.
Are you looking forward to seeing more of Pablo Mari?
Yes
No
Taking into consideration what the journalist had to say, it seems the Premier League fixture versus Leeds United, scheduled for this Sunday will come around too soon for Mari, but there’s a possibility he could feature in the UEFA Europa League trip to Molde.
In our view, given the level of opposition Arsenal will face in the remainder of the group stage, it feels as though that competition could provide him the perfect stage on which to work on his fitness and get some match practice.