Report: Arsenal Linked With Transfer for Dortmund Veteran Defender Sokratis
Arsenal have been linked with a summer swoop for Borussia Dortmund center back Sokratis Papastathopoulos in a bid to strengthen at the back ahead of next season, with Per Mertesacker retiring to go behind the scenes and Laurent Koscielny aging.
A report from Italian Gazzetta dello Sport links Juventus with the Greek international as a reaction to being humiliated by Real Madrid in the Champions League.
But the Italian outlet claims that the Gunners are keeping an eye on Sokratis. It is also claimed that Manchester United may be interested as well.
Arsenal were heavily liked with Sokratis' Greece international colleague Kostas Manolas last summer, who currently plays his club football in Italy with Roma.
Having previously spent time at Genoa and AC Milan, Sokratis has been with Dortmund since joining from Werder Bremen in 2013. He will turn 30 years of age this summer and has just one more season left on his contract at Westfalenstadion.
It could mean that he is open to change and the club is open to suitable offers.
Arsenal's 'interest' at this moment in time seems to lack real substance, but if they were to go ahead and pull off the signing, Sokratis would become the third former Dortmund player to join the club in recent months after Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
After hammering CSKA Moscow in the first leg of their Europa League quarter final on Thursday, attentions at Arsenal, for now, turn back to making a strong finish to a disastrous Premier League campaign. That starts with the visit of relegation threatened Southampton on Sunday.
