Transfer balls: Arsenal move to sign Sokratis Papastathopoulos
Arsenal are closing in on Borussia Dortmund centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos. The fee for the 29-year-old in the final yea of his Dortmund contract: £16m. With the imminent arrival of Stephan Lichtsteiner, 34, on a free transfer from Juventus, Arsenal finally look like adding defensive nous to the side.
If Papastathopoulos arrives at the Emirates, he will the third former Dortmund player to join Arsenal since Sven Mislintat became head of recruitment. Under Mislintat, the formerly chief scout at Dortmund, Arsenal have already bought former Dortmund players Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. It also means Arsenal will have seven first-team players – including Granit Xhaka, Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi and Sead Kolašinac – who played in the Bundesliga. Why is that? Is it simply the players coming for the money? And Arsenal knowing their money will tempt the players to join?
Papastathopoulos was AEK Athens’ youngest-ever captain, at 19, and his country’s Young Player of the Year in 2008.
In January, Arsenal bought centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos, 20, from PAS Giannina. The future is looking promising – although not everyone will be delighted:
Konstantinos Mavrothanos pairing with Sokratis Papastathopoulos in Arsenal’s defence is gonna give poor Paul Merson punditry nightmares. These two have longer names than Man City and Chelsea’s history.
— Mike Sanz (@mikesanz19) May 28, 2018
Posted: 28th, May 2018 | In: Arsenal, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
