Arsenal sign permanent deals with defenders Pablo Mari, Cedric Soares
Aug 24, 2020
London [UK], Aug 24 : Arsenal have signed permanent deals with defenders Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares on Monday.
Both players joined the club initially on loan in January, and after impressing on and off the pitch over the past eight months, Arsenal have agreed to make their moves permanent.
Spain's Mari signed from the Brazilian side Flamengo. He made three appearances before his ankle injury during the Premier League match at Manchester City - the first fixture after the restart.
The 26-year-old joined Flamengo from Manchester City, where he had been since 2016. The left-footed central defender spent his time with City on three different season-long loan spells - in Spain with Girona for the 2016/17 season, then to the Netherlands with NAC Breda in 2017/18, before returning to Spain for the 2018/19 campaign with Deportivo La Coruna.
Mari developed his youth career in Spain with RCD Mallorca, where he made his La Liga debut at the age of just 17. Three years later in 2013, Mari joined the Spanish side Gimnastic, where he made nearly 100 appearances in his three seasons with the Catalonian club.
Cedric joined permanently from Southampton, where he appeared over 100 times. He made five Premier League appearances for Arsenal during the restart, scoring on his debut in our 4-0 home victory over Norwich City.
The 28-year-old started his career at Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon, developing through the youth ranks before making his first-team debut in the Portuguese Primeira Liga at the age of 19.
An experienced international, Cedric has made 33 appearances for Portugal. He featured in the 2018 World Cup and was also part of Portugal squad which won the European Championships in 2016.
During his career, the defender has also had spells on loan at Academica in Portugal and Inter Milan in Italy.
