Arsenal: If Mikel Arteta wants Pablo Mari, I want him too

Mikel Arteta knows what he wants for Arsenal, and if what he wants is Pablo Mari, before even seeing him play, then hey, I want it too.

Arsenal fans hadn’t even seen Pablo Mari play yet when the club reportedly decided to make the deal permanent. For a fee under £5m, Mari will be joining the Gunners on a permanent basis solely based on what Mikel Arteta has seen in training.

Needless to say, this is a huge investment of faith and good feeling. Mari will be feeling the positive aura of that faith every time he does make it out onto the pitch, and he will have Arteta to thank for it when that pays dividends. And it will.

By the same token, without having seen him play for the club yet, fans are being asked to show an equal amount of faith in Arteta’s decision making.

Generally, the idea behind a loan with the option to buy is that it works kind of like a rental. You test it out, see if you like it and if you want to buy it, great. You buy.

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That’s what’s happening with Dani Ceballos. That debate is raging right on down to the wire. Granted he could cost about six times what Pablo Mari costs, but every pound is precious when the Gunners are concerned.

The same goes for Cedric Soares. His price is supposed to be right about the same as Mari.

Arteta had this to say about Mari:

"When he joined the club he hadn’t played for a long time and he had a little niggle as well when he joined us, but his attitude and commitment has been really, really good and highly surprising."

Again, that’s some high praise. Calling him surprising? I can’t wait to see this guy play at the Emirates. Not to mention the fact that this defense has completely turned around thanks to the two most unlikely of sources—Shkodran Mustafi and David Luiz.

As I keep saying, if those two can find success in a defensive set-up of any kind, then the benefits bust be pretty wide across the board, and Mari could be another guy that benefits.

Clearly Arteta sees a place for Mari in that defensive set-up, and he likely also admires Mari’s attitude, which I’m going to assume involves a deal of patience to get into the first team. This defense is getting even better and we don’t even know it!