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Napoli want Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
The Greek defender is in the final year of his contract, having signed from Borussia Dortmund in 2018.
He is very much surplus to requirements at the Emirates, especially with the confirmed arrival of Gabriel Magalhães at the club, and barely played for Mikel Arteta’s side after lockdown.
The Serie A side are hoping that they will not have to pay any fee for him, and there have been suggestions that Arsenal will agree to cancel his contract with them. That would allow him to leave North London immediately, and to negotiate his own terms with the Italian side. He would also be entitled to a signing -on fee.
That is similar to the deal they finalised earlier this week, which saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s loan move to Roma become a permanent deal.
In the case of Sokratis, it would save the Gunners £90,000 a week in wages.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.