Flamengo defender Pablo Mari could soon be heading to the Emirates should Arsenal manage to finalize the £7.5million signing before the transfer window closes at the end of January.

Flamengo defender Pablo Mari could soon be heading to the Emirates should Arsenal manage to finalize the £7.5million deal before the transfer window closes at the end of January.

With Calum Chambers out for the rest of the season after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee during Arsenal’s game against Chelsea at the end of last year, Mikel Arteta has been pressed to find a replacement to bolster his side’s defense.

According to football.london Pablo Mari has already been spotted ‘at an airport with the club’s Technical Director Ed’ after allegedly already having said his goodbyes to his “soon to be” former Flamengo teammates at Maracanã Stadium in Brazil.

ICYMI: Edu was spotted with Pablo Mari at the Airport last night. They are most likely on BA248 flight which is due to land in the UK around 12pm. pic.twitter.com/B3NamDiEiA — Arsènic™ (@MrArsenicTM) January 25, 2020

So far Mikel Arteta has been very mum on any new signings for the club as he went on to say the following at a pre-match conference:

“I’m not going to be discussing any transfer links publicly,”

“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.”

With the transfer window closing and Arsenal in dire need of players to strengthen up their backline as this has been the main source of their undoing in previous games, fans are hoping to get an official announcement from the club soon on the £7.5million deal.