New Arsenal signing Pablo Mari has revealed that he only became aware of interest from the Gunners a fortnight before making his switch to north London.
The Spanish centre-back today completed a loan move to Arsenal until the end of the season for £4million. The Gunners have an option to sign him on a permanent basis for a fee believed to be £8million.
Mari had only joined Flamengo in July but made impressive strides with the Brazilian giants, winning the league and Copa Libertadores in his brief time with the club.
Arsenal technical director Edu says the club had been tracking Mari for some time whilst head coach Mikel Arteta would have been aware of the 26-year-old, who spent three years on the books at Manchester City before departing for Brazil.
However Mari was unaware of Arsenal's interest in him until far more recently.
"When I spoke to my agent, it was a big thing that Arsenal were interested in me," he told Arsenal Player. "This is one of the best clubs in the world, so I’m absolutely delighted to be joining.
"I’m really looking forward to playing in this jersey and helping my team.
"The conversations started a couple of weeks ago. Arsenal told us that they were interested. We’d just won everything with Flamengo – I won the league and the Copa Libertadores and was also named best centre-back in America, so that will have helped Arsenal notice me.
"It’s a great achievement for me to come to Arsenal and it all happened in basically two weeks."
Mari's addition gives Arteta the left-footed centre-back he has been craving and adds to the Gunners' numbers in that position after Calum Chambers suffered a season-ending knee injury last month.
There will doubtless be great focus on Mari as he looks to be the answer in a position where Arsenal have consistently struggled to make quality signings but he insists he is ready for it.
"I’m kind of used to [all the media attention the move has received] from Brazil, where the fans are really passionate about Flamengo," he said.
"I’m used to a lot of media interest so I know what to expect when joining a big club like this one. It’s a normal thing for me now."
