RIYADH: Al-Hilal on Sunday officially announced that former Arsenal defender Pablo Mari has signed from Serie A side Fiorentina. The player immediately joined his new colleagues in a training session.

The move will bolster Al-Hilal’s defence, with Kalidou Koulibaly still away at the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal, who face Egypt in the semi-finals on Wednesday night.

Mari has played 16 games with Fiorentina in all competitions this season.

“Al-Hilal have signed a contract with Spanish defender Pablo Mari to join Al-Hilal from Italian club Fiorentina on a six-month contract, with an option to extend for another year,” Al-Hilal announced in a statement.

The 32-year-old defender won the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2020 and lifted the Copa Libertadores with Brazil’s Flamengo in 2019.

The Spanish centre-half started his career at Mallorca, where he was a product of the club’s youth academy. In 2013, he moved to Gimnastic in the third tier of Spanish football, where he spent three years before Manchester City signed him in August of 2016.

Mari was immediately loaned out to Girona on a one-year deal, and he would also have similar stints at NAC Breda in the Netherlands and Deportivo La Coruna in Spain in the following two campaigns.

The series of loan spells were ended when he joined Flamengo on a permanent deal in 2019, but after a season at the Brazilian club which led to continental success, Mari was loaned out to Arsenal in the January transfer window at the start of 2020.

After winning the FA Cup a few months after joining, the move to the North London club was made permanent. However, his spell at the Emirates led to further loans spells at Udinese and Monza, with the latter securing his services on a full-time basis in May of 2023.

Fiorentina signed Mari in January of 2025 before his latest move to Riyadh was announced.