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He was on Manchester City's books for three years but was farmed out each season; now he is a Flamengo player at Arsenal... Pablo Mari is Mikel Arteta's loan star and wants to stay with the Gunners for 'many years'

As Pablo Mari clocked up miles on the stationary bike in his back garden during 47 days of lockdown, he never let the situation get to him.

In part, that is because he knows there are more important things than football right now. It's also because the path of his career has never run straight. Seven weeks of quarantine, two weeks after making his Arsenal debut, was just another curve in the road.

The 26-year-old Spanish centre back, who is likely to be Mikel Arteta's first permanent signing but is on loan from Flamengo at the moment, left home at 13 to join Mallorca's academy.