Mikel Arteta has revealed that he expects Pablo Mari to be out for a few games.
The Spanish centre back was due to play for the Gunners in their 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace, but was ruled out just before the match with a tight calf.
And Arteta has now revealed that he expects Mari to be out for a while as a result.
"He had a calf injury as well Pablo in training yesterday. I think he will miss a few matches. So yeah it’s another one that we will lose."
The news comes after it was revealed that the Gunners are expected to pay Flamengo a bonus of £900,000 if defender Pablo Mari plays against Crystal Palace.
The 27-year-old joined Arsenal from the Brazilian side on loan last January and has recently returned from injury to cement a place alongside Rob Holding in defence.
Brazilian outlet Globo Esporte had reported that Arsenal have to pay Flamengo a bonus of around £900,000 every time Mari makes 10 appearances, up to a maximum of 80 outings.
football.london spoke to someone close to Mari who confirmed that "there are some performance bonuses" included in the transfer fee.
Arteta spoke about Mari earlier this week and praised him for his impressive performances.
“We had to throw him in because we had some injuries and suspensions, it probably wasn’t really fair for him because he’s missed a lot of football in the last year,” said Arteta.
“But he’s a leader, he’s someone that trains really hard, he’s a professional, a great communicator on the pitch and he gives you some security and stability.”
“I think he’s done really well with Rob [Holding], he was really good again today with David [Luiz], three clean sheets in a row and he fully deserves the chance to play.
“[He was] really positive when he wasn’t playing, when he was injured and when he is playing, he is the same person all the time, trying to help everybody, really professional, really eager to improve to give his best all the time in any capacity and any role and I think he is getting rewarded by his attitude.”
Arsenal are expected to lose several central defenders over the coming months with David Luiz, Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi all seeing their contracts expire in the summer.
