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Reports from Brazil suggest that Arsenal signed defender Pablo Mari for £10 million less than first reported.
The Gunner signed the 27-year old on loan from Flamengo in January, and despite the fact that he only made three Premier League appearances for them and was injured 24 minutes into his first match after lockdown, they decided to make the deal permanent in the summer.
At the time it was widely reported they had paid £14 million, but now figures extracted from the Flamengo balance sheet suggest the sum involved was much lower at £3.6 million. Furthermore, quotes attributed to the club’s vice-president of finance suggest that this is the whole of the fee and not part of an instalment plan.
Mari is continuing his rehabilitation from injury after successful surgery, but, although he has begun light training again, is not expected to be fit for first-team duties for several weeks at least.
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.