Pablo Mari is returning to Brazil, but Arsenal's pursuit of the Flamengo defender is alive.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, the 26-year-old's move to the Emirates Stadium was said to be at risk of collapsing after 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.
Whilst the centre-back is indeed heading back to Brazil, rumours of his loan deal not going ahead are very much premature,
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.
Furthermore, Flamengo want a permanent deal if they're to sell Mari before the January transfer window closes on Friday night.
However, 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.
Prior to the north London outfit's interest in Mari coming to light, Mikel Arteta said he was 50/50 on transfers.
"I'm not going to be discussing any transfer links publicly," Arteta said in his pre-match press conference. "It's something we are trying to do internally and when we have news we will communicate with you guys."
"We are looking at different positions, obviously since I joined we lost Calum [Chambers] and we had other circumstances and injuries in that position so it's true that at the back we have been short.
"There are other positions as well, depending on what happens in the market that we might need to assess."
Then when asked if he's confident of getting business done before deadline day, Arteta insisted he will only dip into the market for quality players.
"At the moment I am 50/50 because this transfer [window] is very complicated and I only want to bring somebody in if I'm convinced he can really improve the level that we have."
Transfer deadline day is on Friday night with the window slamming shut at 11pm.
