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The option for Pablo Mari to leave Arsenal and return to one of his former clubs has been backed up by another source amid his struggles for gametime.

Mari has been an Arsenal player since January 2020, when they signed him on an initial loan from Flamengo. He only played three times in that spell, but the move was still made permanent.

Last season, he earned 16 appearances in all competitions. And this season, he has played just three times so far.

At the age of 28, Mari would want to be playing more regularly. A recent report indicated he was growing tired of his lack of space under Mikel Arteta. With that in mind, it was suggested that he could return to Flamengo.

Such an idea has now been verified by Football.London, who claim Mari is considering his future and Flamengo are thinking of taking him back to Brazil.

The Spaniard spent the 2019 Brazilian Serie A season with Flamengo after leaving Manchester City. He made 30 appearances for the club before Arsenal snapped him up. It is now nearly two years since that transfer but he has not even matched his Flamengo tallies at the Emirates Stadium.

Therefore, it may be best for him to return to his old club. However, they would only be able to take him on loan and Arsenal would still have to cover some of his wages.

His contract in north London runs until 2024, so Arsenal are under no immediate pressure to sell. Should they agree to help with the wages, a loan may be the best solution for all concerned.

But the struggle would be to find suitors willing to cover the full costs of the deal. As such, a compromise with Flamengo may have to work.

For now, Mari will be waiting to see if his gametime improves over the next couple of months. But Football.London predict his only chances will come in cup competitions.

Mikel Arteta has been favouring a centre-back partnership of Ben White and Gabriel Magalhaes so far this season. He also has given Rob Holding a couple more appearances than Mari in the position to date.

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Pablo Mari teammate reaches exit agreement

Another Arsenal player who seems to be even closer to leaving the club is striker Alexandre Lacazette.

The French striker, 30, is in the final year of his contract in north London. He has regularly featured under Arteta in the league this term. However, many of his appearances have come from the bench.

Nonetheless, the forward remains a high-level performer on his day and will have no shortage of suitors.

Indeed, Lacazette recently revealed he had turned his attention to what the future holds with his Gunners career coming to an end.

“Of course, my agents are starting to look to the right and to the left,” Lacazette told Telefoot.

“But not until January, I really want to focus myself on something.

“And then we will see what is on offer, if the challenges are interesting, if there are beautiful projects, how they are counting on me… so there are still many questions. I prefer to wait until January to position myself.”

Lacazette will be free to sign a pre-contract agreement with overseas clubs come January 1. And according to Caught Offside, it is Barcelona who are on course to win the race.

Citing the Spanish press, they claim talks between Xavi’s side and Lacazette’s camp recently ‘accelerated’.

The end result is a claim that a ‘verbal agreement’ has been struck that will see Lacazette move to Spain when his contract expires next summer.

Arsenal are still in a process of evolution and the potential exits of Lacazette and Mari could be another sign of that.

READ MORE: Real Madrid say yes to Arsenal target’s January exit, but insider info may concern

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