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Player flies-in to complete £15m Arsenal move after agreeing terms over 3-year deal

By on June 4, 2018

According to reports in Germany via Sport24, Sokratis Papastathopoulos flew-in to London on Sunday night to finalise his £15m move to Arsenal after agreeing terms over a three-year contract.

Arsenal’s defence leaked 51 league goals last season so it’s obvious new boss Unai Emery needs to tighten up the back four if we’re to secure Champions League football next year.

Per Mertesacker has retired, Laurent Koscielny is out for six months through injury, Shkodran Mustafi has been a disappointing signing while Rob Holding and Calum Chambers have failed to live up to their early promise.

So Emery is expected to overhaul our defence this summer and Papastathopoulos has been touted as a key target in the media with head of recruitment Sven Mislintat leading the charge to bring him to north London.

Mislintat knows the Greek international from their time together at Dortmund and he’s reportedly been in talks with his former club about taking the 29-year-old centre-back to Arsenal this summer.

It looks like a deal is now close to completion as Sports24 are citing a report from Kicker that claims Papastathopoulos arrived in London on Sunday night to finalise a £15m move to the Emirates.

The German publication says the defender has agreed terms over a three-year contract and is due to undergo his medical before being unveiled as Emery’s first signing of the summer.

Papastathopoulos has been a regular at Dortmund for the past five years but is looking for a new challenge after refusing to sign a new contract – which has just one year left to run.

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The Greek star is a hugely experienced player and will add some much-needed leadership to the back four while he should also act as a role model for the likes of Holding, Chambers and Mavropanos.

He’s not going to be a ‘marquee’ signing but we have to trust Mislintat and Emery to know what they’re doing and Papastathopoulos should be a solid addition to the squad if we can get this deal over the line.