Arsenal were on the brink of signing Pablo Mari from Flamengo but now it looks like the transfer is about to collapse – as per reports.
Mikel Arteta lost Calum Chambers to an injury and the defender will be out for the rest of the season which is why it was absolutely important that the Gunners brought in a new defender this month.
And last week, the club seemed to have agreed upon a loan deal for the 26-year-old and he was about to put pen on paper to a new deal.
Now though, a Flamengo director has come out to claim that Arsenal have changed the terms of the deal in the final moments which is why Pablo Mari is expected to remain at Flamengo.
‘We expect him at Ninho do Urubu this afternoon (for pre-season),’ he said as quoted by The Metro.
‘We had agreed to sell him for a fee, he arrived in London and Arsenal changed the terms. Flamengo is a serious club.’
Arsenal were supposed to sign Pablo Mari on loan with a probable permanent move at the end of the season worth £7.5million.
Now though it seems like the Gunners will have to renegotiate the terms of the deal or in the worst of circumstances, they might have to go out and find a new defender before the transfer window shuts down.
But with only a couple of days left, we don’t think the Gunners will take the risk in scrapping the whole move for Pablo Mari and getting back to the drawing board.
UPDATE:
Sky Sports are reporting that Pablo Mari has now returned back to Brazil and will join Flamengo’s training session tomorrow.
The report states: “While Arsenal are still in talks with Flamengo over the deal, Mari has returned to Brazil and will begin pre-season training as things stand.”
