Edu to block Pablo Mari's Arsenal exit?

Arsenal technical director Edu could supposedly intervene and stop Pablo Mari from returning to Flamengo in January.

The Spanish centre-back previously won the Copa Libertadores with the Brazilian club before moving to Arsenal last year, but he has fallen out of favour under Mikel Arteta.

Mari has failed to make the squad for Arsenal's last 10 Premier League games, and he is widely expected to head for the exit door over the winter.

A return to Flamengo has been strongly mooted for the 28-year-old, but Torcedores claims that Edu is in no position to sanction a move to the Serie A side, even though Arsenal are willing to let him leave on loan.

The report claims that Flamengo would want Arsenal to fork out 50% of Mari's salary while he is on loan in Brazil, and the defender has no desire to move to Russia or Ukraine despite interest from those countries.

Mari has only made two Premier League appearances for Arsenal this season and boasts one goal from 22 games for the Gunners in total.