Arsenal have already been active in the transfer market with the signings of Stephan Lichtsteiner and Bernd Leno.
A third player is expected to join the club with Greek defender Sokratis coming from Borussia Dortmund.
According to reports in Sport Sto Noto, he was spotted at the Kalamata airport on Saturday evening and was traveling to London on a British Airways flight accompanied by his wife.
The Metro also claim that the defender posted a message on his Instagram page saying goodbye to his hometown.
“Kalamata see you soon,” he said.
The club has delayed the announcement due to the way in which the financial year operates in Germany. A new quarter will begin on the 1st of July so they have had to wait despite having the deal in the bag. The confirmation is expected to arrive soon.
Sokratis was targeted because of his experience as well as being well-known to the Head Of Recruitment, Sven Mislintat. He will add some steel to an Arsenal defense that has often looked overwhelmed. This has become even more of a necessity with the retirement of Per Mertesacker and injury problems of Laurent Koscielny.
It is known that the player had offers from other clubs, but he chose to come to Arsenal. This was also confirmed by his father who said:
“There was interest from United but he would have to wait for July, even if the two clubs (United and Borussia Dortmund) have excellent relations, he chose to go to Arsenal instead.”Papastathopoulos senior said.
This is good news for the club as well as the fans since it shows that Arsenal still has some pulling power when it comes to attracting players. The Unai Emery era has been off to a busy start and the signing of Sokratis is sure to help with the restructuring that will happen to the squad.
At Arsenal, Sokratis will have the opportunity to reunite with his teammates Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. And fans will be hoping that his experience will be able to guide younger defenders such as Calum Chambers and Rob Holding. All that is left for the Gunners to make it official.
