Arsenal reportedly had to pay the guts of £1m following their loss to Brentford thanks to a performance clause in Pablo Mari’s contract, a player who was largely slated throughout the whole game.

The fact that Arsenal had to stump up an additional €1m following their defeat at Brentford will not amuse many, particularly not when you consider it was for fielding Pablo Mari.

Many might ask was the club fined for playing him, such was the criticism levelled at him on social media during and after the game, but it seems that Arsenal had to pay the money because Pablo Mari reached a threshold of 20 whole appearances.

Yes, that’s right, Arsenal look to have paid £4.5m for Mari, plus a loan fee of £7.2m for six months and now have to pay another €1m because he made 20 appearances.

20.

That’s a total transfer fee (so far) of around £12.5m for a player who is currently valued at £6.3m and has never been worth more than that. In fact, he was worth around £1.9m when Arsenal bought him.

This is a little less than was reported at the time when it was claimed the whole deal could cost Arsenal up to £15.5m.

This reportedly breaks down as follows:

• €5m loan fee
• €3m purchase clause
• €1m in bonuses for every 10 games he plays, up to 80 games or €8m

There is some debate over the financials for this deal, however, with Flamengo’s vice president claiming the whole deal only netted them €4m.

The figures around this deal have never really matched up with this 10 games clause about the only thing that has been consistently reported, even though it’s been somewhat dismissed.