Arsenal are reportedly edging closer to sealing the transfer of Borussia Dortmund defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos in a €20million deal, according to sources in Germany.
The Gunners look like raiding Dortmund for their Greece international centre-back, with the Bundesliga giants in turn looking like replacing him with Mainz defender Abdou Diallo, according to Bild.
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Arsenal could certainly do with tightening up at the back this summer, and additional information from the Metro suggests their head of recruitment Sven Mislintat has made defensive additions a priority.
Fans will hope this makes Arsenal more of a force in the transfer market, with Mislintat’s appointment earlier this season seeming to coincide with a number of promising signings.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, both formerly of Dortmund, were big-name signings in January, and they were joined by impressive younger Konstantinos Mavropanos.
Mislintat certainly displayed an eye for talent at Dortmund, with the German side’s recruitment in recent times proving exceptional with a number of smart buys on the cheap who’ve been sold at huge profit after becoming big names with the club.