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Football London
Football London
Sport
Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

Arsenal supporters notice who was absent from training ahead of Bournemouth clash

Arsenal's preparations for tonight's FA Cup tie away at Bournemouth are complete.

The squad took part in their final training session at London Colney on Sunday ahead of the game at the Vitality Stadium as Mikel Arteta's side aim to book a place in round five.

Those present in training were the likes of Alexandre Lacazette, Dani Ceballos, Lucas Torreira, Eddie Nketiah, Nicolas Pepe, Hector Bellerin as well as suspended duo Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and David Luiz.

But there's one player who was missing from the session and some Gunners fans are demanding answers.

It wasn't any of Calum Chambers, Kieran Tierney, Reiss Nelson or Sead Kolasinac who are all on the sidelines because of injury, with the latter duo expected to return to full training at some point next month.

To get fans excited for the cup game, Arsenal uploaded a 'Behind The Scenes' training video to their official Youtube account and most of the responses centred around a certain transfer target.

Pablo Mari has been heavily linked with completing a loan move to the Emirates Stadium before the January transfer window closes on Friday night and with the knowledge that he was in the UK over the weekend, fans were hoping for a sighting.

One replied with "Announce this Mari don!" Another said: "Announcing Mari soon I hope."

There were similar responses on Twitter...

Of course the replies were tongue-in-cheek as Mari's move to the Emirates has not yet been finalised and there were reports on Monday morning which suggested a deal was in danger of falling through.

According to the Daily Mail, there was a late hitch in negotiations between the Gunners and Flamengo.

The player travelled to London for talks over the weekend, and it was expected that a deal would be concluded imminently, but the report claims the defender has flown back to Brazil 'disappointed', with the north London outfit now assessing their options.

However, Football.london understand the Gunners' pursuit of Mari is still ongoing and that the plan had always been for him to go back to Rio de Janeiro.

The only issue is the finer details of the deal.

Flamengo want a permanent deal if they're to sell Mari before deadline day, but Arsenal want a loan deal with an option to sign the Spaniard on a permanent basis at the end of the season and that has been the club's approach with every centre-back this month.

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