According to Corriere dello Sport, Sokratis already has an agreement with Napoli but can’t complete his move until the Serie A side part ways with Kalidou Koulibaly.
The Greek has been lined up by Gennaro Gattuso as a replacement for the Senegal international who has attracted strong interest from both Paris St Germain and Manchester City.
Sokrati, 32, is tied to Arsenal for another year but is, according to the report, angling for the rest of his contract to be cancelled.
We have no idea if that is true, but it would be good to get out of the habit of letting contracted players leave for free, as happened recently with Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Even a token fee would come in useful at this point as we look to raise funds for midfield reinforcements.
Earlier this month,Napoli’s owner Aurelio De Laurentiis, confirmed interest in the player when he stated: “We are working on signing Sokratis Papastathopoulos from Arsenal, we consider it an option.”
The transfer window closes in 12 days so Koulibaly and Sokratis will both learn their fates pretty soon.
I like how “Sokrati” makes it sound like the plural of “Sokratis”, implying the existance of several angry Greek CBs lurking on the books.
No the plural of Socratis is Socratii
Angry is the collective noun
M confused ! Am i overating koulibaly or underating papa ?
I’d imagine they’re cashing in Koulibali when they can
I guess the plural of Koulibaly is Koulibali.
But is he (are they) angry?
The Italian market isn’t in great shape, as much as I’d like a fee for Sokratis, 100K a week off the wage bill will help.
Maybe we’ll put some performance clauses in so we get paid if Napoli achieve certain things.
I doubt there’s a club in European football that gives such generous contracts to such average players. How did him and Kolasinac get 100k+ per week contracts?
Because Kola came to us as a Team of the Season member in the Bundesliga, on a free to boot.
Quite right. That happened under Wenger’s watch and we’re certainly paying for it even now. Mustafi must also be added to the mix (at a reported £100,000 a week and a £35million fee – still one of the most expensive central defenders – were we totally crazy then, or what?) And let’s not even mention “Mr O” in the equation. Hopefully, there will be light at the end of this terrible tunnel if/when we can shift a few of them and the contracts of the rest (the big majority, I fear) will just expire.
Mustafi was one of La Liga’s best CBs back then. I also recall him being a StatDNA recommendation – not sure though.
To be fair, he started off pretty well. Was a rock, and played the ball well.
Similarly Kolasinac – Initially, he was a fan favourite with his effort up and down the left lane. Sadly, levels have dropped…
Mustafi was never one of the best defenders in la liga
if I recall correctly he was a starting CB for Germany at Euro 16. If he was StatDNA then that equates with how he has done under Mikel’s tutelage. Scouting should have picked up some of his issues. An arguement both for why it is still needed, but also perhaps that it was falling somewhat short previously
He won the World Cup. He is a very talented defender, strong in the air, good pace, good vision and passing range. He makes disastrous mistakes.
thats essentially what i meant… very good attributes, but fecklessness or temperament issues which scouting is meant to help capture
Kolasinac was signed to protect Ozil
We may sign Aouar and Xhaka and Ceballos will keep him on the bench. You will then ask why we gave him that much of money.
Mr.O…has a certain James Bond villain ring to it..
Hear me out, evil German holding a London club (owned by a shady Yank) to ransom and there’s no end in sight. There’s also a Miss Turkey and a Serb tank of a man involved here.
Surely that’s a better plot than Spectre!
I did think Rami Malik has rather the same facial complexian as Mr O. The eyes at least
Why are you pinning a signing that took place after Wenger left on him – it makes you sound ridiculous. Sokratis has to be attached to the sainted Mslintet more than anyone
Wenger didnt want Ozil on that wage but was on his way out by then. it was I appreciate the result of the balls up over Sanchez.
If you are looking for someone to blame the the common denominator in all of the above is Gazides
Because Kolasinac was signed for free and a portion of the potential fee was added to his potential salary.
If Napoli take in 70M for Koulibaly they can most certainly throw 5M our way for Papa
Come on Napoli having too many centre backs is a good thing. We’ve just won two trophies in a space of a month.
what are you scared of?
If Sokratis thinks we’ll cancel his contract when Napoli will be getting £70 million for Koulibaly he must be stupid.
We need him and his wages gone but we must cash in.
“Cash in”!! How much do you think we’re going to get in this market for a 32 year old (very average) player with one year left on his contract? If we’re offered almost any fee, I suspect the club will take it – and probably drive him to the airport as well.
I would have thought that was obvious, but I’ll explain for you even though you sort of answered it yourself.
Cash in meaning get some money for him even if it’s only a few million, not let him go for nada.
Happy?
Good
if it means keeping city from getting koulibaly then maybe we keep papa
Are you sure Aurelio De Laurentiis in his statement used the whole name. .Sokratis Papastathopoulos
Its not like we are minting much out of this one. If he doesn’t sell, we can still afford to loan him out. Others we cannot afford to loan and must find some money in. Torreira looks the most likely for 22m albeit we need to secure as much of that up front. Martinez done deal brings in another 20m but in truth both these merely cover for Pepe/Saliba and Mangalhaes. We need IMO another 45m to budge Lyon on Aouar (The priority over Partey which in any case is also in excess of 45m at present) otherwise we need… Read more »
Looking at Sokratis, Torreira, Ozil, Guendouzi – none of whom were even on the bench yesterday – the Carabao Cup game on Wednesday might hint as to if any of them have a future at the club. Stranger things have happened.
Might have even included Kolasinac in that group if it weren’t for Tierney’s injury.
They only have a future of they can’t be sold for the price Arsenal find acceptable. If they can be sold they will be. None of them are what we need.
Ozil ofc is going nowhere he just wants the money
We should sell Sokratis, and maybe we should loan out Chambers when he gets back from his injury, sell Kola 100%. Play Gabriel, David Luiz, Holding as main CB, push Tierney to his original position LB. Then cover CBs can be Mustafi, Mari, and ease Saliba into the team this season. Give Cedric a chance, he cant be worse than Hector. and AMN can be cover for LB/RB as needed or CM in emergency Cup/Euro games.
I don’t know about holding to start, Antonia signalled him out as the weak link and he got a lot of joy off him. If where keeping a back three I’d have Gabriel, luiz and Tierney then gives saliba time to get up to pace in the league
“He can’t be worse than Hector.” I actually like Soares, but he is nowhere near Bellerin–the guy who is wanted by Barca, Bayern, and Juve.
So by the transitive property, Man City should just buy Sokratis from us for 70 million.
I would say yes to this sale but try to nudge it up to 80 million.
/s
I’m not sure transitivity applies here unfortunately
Thanks mate, made me chuckle
So basically we have to pray that:
Sokratis does not look impressed by this news.
Heh, at least he actually wants to play and not just sit on his arse picking up his wages. My guess is that he will be paid less at Napoli than he’s currently getting at Arsenal. Fair play to him ?
My guess is that he’ll get more than a 1 year deal so it gives him more security. World could be even more fucked than it is now by next summer
I say we do everyone a solid here and offer a straight swap for Koulibaly and Sokratis. Doesn’t everyone get what they want in that scenario? I mean we already have 2654943 CBs on the books right now, one more shouldn’t hurt..
Typical Arsenal. Buy player for 30mn, pay X wages. Sell same player for 5mn, and pay player 5mn for lost wages.
Not sure when we last made a profit on sale of “proven” players like Sokratis. Only Man Utd fare worse than us, in this aspect.
This point feels very similar to one posted in the chat on the Torreira news item…
Really? Iwobi (all profit), Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott. Not as old, but all senior internationals.
I think if Napoli are auctioning Koulibaly between the worlds two richest clubs then they can be expected to pay a fee for his replacement. Sorry Mr Papastathopoulos but if you want to sweeten the deal for the Napoli to make it happen then lower your wage demands pal. There is not the argument as with Koscielny that youve been a long term servant of the club that had put it all on the line up to now.
Sokrates is a warrier with a good understanding of the game. He has the speed Mustafi and partucularily Holding lack. Sell them.