According to various media reports Borussia Dortmund defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos is set to become Unai Emery’s first signing at Arsenal.

The twenty-nine year old could join the North London club in a £16m deal as he enters the last year of his contract with Die Borussen.

The centre-back would add added aerial ability and extra strength to the Gunners backline.

Another quality needed in the Arsenal defence is leadership and Sokratis would also offer that. He’s never been scared to assert himself and he’s also the current vice captain at Dortmund.

Last term, the Greek international made on average 2.4 tackles per game for the German giants. He also made 3.8 clearances and won around 2.7 headers per game too.

Arsenal haven’t had a dominating presence in their defensive line for a while now and Papastathopoulos could come in and become that man for Emery’s new look side at the Emirates.

Interestingly he’d also become the third former Dortmund player to join Arsenal this year. The Gunners’ new head of recruitment Sven Mislintat, who also had a spell with the German side, is obviously keen to have a group within the team that he can trust.

With Per Mertesacker now retired, Laurent Koscielny out with a long-term injury and question marks surrounding Shkodran Mustafi’s future; we all knew that Emery needed to come in and deal with the issues that have engulfed the Arsenal defence.

Sokratis would make an instant impact and walk straight into the team. He should give the Gunners a vital voice at the back and he could be integral in the development of young Greek defender Konstantinos Mavropanos.

The twenty year old joined in January and impressed in his three appearances towards the tail end of the season. The youngster looked raw and was sent off in the penultimate game of the season but he showed he has the potential to provide competition at the back. He could learn a lot from his countryman, should Papastathopoulos sign this summer.

Arsenal ended the past season in sixth place of the Premier League. Legendary manager Arsene Wenger’s last campaign was summed up with the Gunners poor defensive record, in total the conceded fifty-one goals and that was simply not good enough.

That’s why Unai Emery was brought in and that’s why the Spaniard is looking to bring in new defenders that can shore things up at back.

It will be hoped that Sokratis Papastathopoulos, along with a few others, can bring in some much needed solidity and leadership to Arsenal’s spine.

Posted on May 29th, 2018 by scott
Filed under: Article