Arsenal’s new boy Pablo Mari who was on the books with Manchester City from 2016 – 2019 and before the two sides meet on Wednesday, he has been talking City regrets and his Arsenal future.

Pablo Mari of Arsenal celebrates after his teammate Sokratis Papastathopoulos of Arsenal (not pictured) scored their team's first goal during the FA Cup Fifth Round match between Portsmouth FC and Arsenal FC at Fratton Park on March 02, 2020 in Portsmouth, England.
PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND – MARCH 02: Pablo Mari of Arsenal celebrates after his teammate Sokratis Papastathopoulos of Arsenal (not pictured) scored their team’s first goal during the FA Cup Fifth Round match between Portsmouth FC and Arsenal FC at Fratton Park on March 02, 2020 in Portsmouth, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Pablo Mari recently became the first Arsenal centreback to keep a cleansheet on his debut since Per Mertesacker, a player with whom he shares many similarities.

Signed on loan from Flamengo in January, he is expected to become a permanent Arsenal player in the summer. The kicker, though is that City sold him to Flamengo for £1.53m last summer and Arsenal have already paid £4.5m just to loan him.

“Was it a missed opportunity at City? Maybe,” Mari told the press ahead of Arsenal’s game against City on Wednesday night. “I wanted to play with them. This was not possible.

“I want to play a lot of years here with Arsenal. I am really happy now.

“I’ve learned a lot since I left City because when I was there I was young.

“Now I am in a really good club and I hope the club is happy with me – and then we are going to find a good end for everybody.”

Of course, the new signing has a long way to go to match the current head of the academy. He made a big mistake against West Ham, and was lucky not to see it punished. He grew into the game and had a big positive impact in the second half though.

Next up is a major test against his former side. A seemingly impossible clean sheet in that game would be more than welcome.