Borussia Dortmund chief Michael Zorc has confirmed in an interview that the club’s Greek defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos is likely to seal a transfer to Arsenal.
The 30-year-old has been strongly linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium for some time now, with BBC Sport reporting last month that he was set to join for around £16million.
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Having shone as one of the most solid centre-backs in the Bundesliga in recent times, this looks a decent signing for Arsenal in an area that looks in dire need of strengthening.
However, the deal appears to have been held up for a while now as no official announcement has come in, and Zorc admits things are not entirely finalised even if a deal is likely to go through.
‘He is likely to go there but things are not finalised yet,’ Zorc told Revier Sport.
‘I will not give you anything more for the rumour mill. There have apparently been 27 new Dortmund players since the end of May.’
Zorc was not keen to discuss transfers, however, and must be fed up of losing key players, especially as Arsenal raided them for striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as recently as January.
With former Dortmund man Sven Mislintat now head of recruitment at Arsenal, it appears he’s using his connections well to raid his old club.