Gimnastic de Tarragona have confirmed the departure of 22-year-old defender Pablo Mari to Manchester City. They announced the deal in a statement in Catalan on their website, and wished him luck for the future. He becomes the latest of a number of players to join The Blues from the Spanish second division, and could be loaned back out before the summer is over.
Mari has been a regular for Gimnastic for each of the three years he has spent in Catalonia, playing 37 times in the season they won promotion from Segunda B to the second level of Spanish football. Last season – his first season at that tier – he dropped down to 25 games as Gimnastic finished third, before losing in the promotion play-offs.
In their statement, the Catalan club said: “Gimnastic de Tarragona wishes you good luck in personal and professional level in his new team, Manchester City FC.” They also thanked him for his services, which includes 90 games for the club and six goals from defence.
Gimnastic signed Mari from then-Primera Division side Mallorca in the summer of 2013, the team where he had started his career. With them, the defender did make two substitute appearances in La Liga during the 2011-12 season, but was largely limited to the reserve side. In Segunda B with Los Bermellones’ second string, he made 69 appearances before departing.
It’s thought that City are likely to loan Mari out to Girona this summer in the same way Ruben Sobrino, Florian Lejeune and Chidibere Nwakali were last year. Lejeune was the most successful of those, and recently completed a permanent move to Eibar, but whether the same tactic will be deployed with Mari remains to be seen.
