Arsenal signs Sokratis

Arsenal have confirmed the signing of Sokratis Papastathopoulous from Borussia Dortmund.

The Greek International joins the English side on a long-term contract for a fee of £16.7m and becomes the third signing of Arsenal manager Unai Emery.

Sokratis’ signing has long been awaited after he was linked with Arsenal earlier in the summer. He joins his former team-mate Pierre Emerick Aubameyang at the London club after the pair played together at Dortmund. Sokratis spent five years at Dortmund, where he made 198 appearances, scoring 10 goals.

Arsenal’s new head of recruitment Sven Mislintat has been heavily involved in Arsenal’s transfer dealings since January when he brought in Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Konstantinos Mavropanos. Arsenal have already signed Stephan Lichtsteiner from Juventus on a free transfer and goalkeeper Bernd Leno form Bayer Leverkusen in the summer transfer window.

Sokratis is expected to slot into the first team at centre-back with Laurent Koscielny ruled out till November due to injury. The centre-back joins the Gunners after spells at Dortmund, Weder Bremen, Genoa, AC Milan and AEK Athens.