AC Monza have secured their status in Serie A, putting them one step closer to officially confirming the signing of Pablo Mari on a permanent deal.

Pablo Mari
Pablo Mari back on the pitch with AC Monza (Photo via Monza on Twitter)

Following results at the weekend, AC Monza have now secured their status as a Serie A club for another season.

Monza sit 10th with 44 points and six games remaining. Given 16th-place Lecce (31 points) still have to play against 17th-place Spezia (27 points) and 18th-place Verona (27 points), it’s impossible for all three teams to surpass Monza’s current total.

When Pablo Mari joined AC Monza on loan in the summer transfer window, the Serie A club confirmed they had an obligation to buy under certain conditions.

One of these conditions was widely reported to be that Monza avoid relegation, which is now certain.

But there’s no official confirmation of Mari’s transfer just yet, and this could be due to reports of another condition in the contract.

The Telegraph reported that there was also a condition relating to Mari’s appearances, writing that the £6m sale will go through if the defender plays the required amount of games.

Pablo Mari in training with AC Monza (Photo via Mari on Twitter)
Pablo Mari in training with AC Monza (Photo via Mari on Twitter)

There’s no word on exactly how many games Mari would need to play, but you’d imagine it would be 25 or 30, based on previous clauses of a similar nature. For example, David Ospina had a 25-game clause with Napoli on his loan from Arsenal in 2018/19.

Despite an injury in August and his surgery on a stab wound in October, Mari actually hasn’t missed too many games for Monza this season.

He’s already up to 26 appearances, with those six further games still to play.

Assuming the centre-back is involved in all of them, you’d have to imagine he’ll hit the appearance requirement and complete his move.