Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos has been showing off his free-kick taking abilities during a recent training session at London Colney.
The likes of Nicolas Pepe, David Luiz and Granit Xhaka are ahead of him in the pecking order for dead ball situations but the Greek international showed he is more than capable from set-pieces as well:
We’ll just leave this one here…
? @SokratisPapa5 pic.twitter.com/rMgTL0bhy3
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) June 9, 2020
Supporters on Twitter were impressed with Sokratis’s skills, although some would like him to be equally impressive in his defensive duties:
IMAGINE him doing that against City
— Dk Jones (@DkJones28845949) June 9, 2020
Our new free kick specialist ?
— Guillermo Brito (@superloco10) June 9, 2020
Scenes when Papa scores against City by a free-kick
— SEA MAN (@SeaaaaMannnn) June 9, 2020
If only he could defend
— Ambetsa (@charlesambetsa) June 9, 2020
Oh Papa that was nasty ??????
— BA (@realbkh) June 9, 2020
Does he practice defending?
— ℝ????… (@Richy_____) June 9, 2020
Still papa didn’t smile after that ?
— Chineze (Ex Mrs Walcott ? Ozil’s bae? (@Amchizzy) June 9, 2020
Nice finish! Top corner stuff, Papa… #MuchLove
— OluShacy (@IamShacy) June 9, 2020
Papa just has that Zeus attitude ?
— _Kojo MegaMind✪ (@KojoMegaMind) June 9, 2020
Sokratis’s long-term future remains up in the air. Reporter David Ornstein named him as one of three centre-backs who could be sold this summer, with the player having just twelve months to run on his current contract.
Head coach Mikel Arteta has rarely used the 32-year-old in league games since he took over in December, and the player himself has also raised doubts over his long term future at the club in recent months.
