Sokratis Will Not Leave Dortmund After Juventus Eye Up Leanordo Bonucci's Replacement
Juventus have been dealt a blow in their pursuit of Sokratis Papastathopoulos after Borussia Dortmund rule out selling their Greek centre-back.
Juventus had made Sokratis their main transfer target after allowing Leanardo Bonucci to leave for £35m to rivals AC Milan. Four Four Two reports that Chelsea and Manchester United had also been interested in the Dortmund star.
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The Sporting Director of Dortmund, Michael Zorc, has said that "We don't want to give away a player of this quality".
This comes hot on the heels of the news that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is not going to leave Dortmund either. Dortmund are clearly showing a sign of intent as they will try to replicate the success of their 2010/11 and 2011/12 title winning season.
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Sokratis moved for €9.5m in 2013 and if they were to accept a bid they would be making considerable profit.
After Dortmund sold Mats Hummels to Bayern Munich last year, Sokratis has become the leading man in their defence, appearing in 41 games last season. Dortmund had better success in cup competitions as they lifted DFB-Pokal for the first time since 2012.
Dortmund secured Champions League football for the coming season so clubs looking to prise him away could not use European football as a selling point.
