Footie Central | Football Blog Blogging the football world
Having appeared to be a done deal over the weekend, there is now confusion over the status of the transfer of Pablo Mari from Flamengo.
Everything seemed to be in place after the 26 year old was pictured at the airport in Rio, and again arriving at Heathrow accompanied by Arsenal Technical Director Edu. Asked by a reporter, he confirmed he was happy to be signing for Arsenal, whilst comments from his friends on social media all suggested an agreement was in place.
He also had a medical at the club on Sunday, but then came news that he had returned to Brazil on Monday without the deal being concluded.
There are conflicting reports about what has happened, One is that the deal has collapsed because Flamengo are insisting on a permanent deal, whilst Arsenal want a loan with an option to buy. The other is that Mari was always scheduled to Brazil to wrap up his affairs there.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.