Why Arsenal can’t announce their second signing of the summer just yet

Why Arsenal can’t announce their second signing of the summer just yet

Arsenal have reportedly completed the signing of highly-rated Borussia Dortmund defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

The Greek international has joined on a three-year-deal after the Gunners agreed a fee of £16m with Dortmund for the centre-back.


However, despite already completing a medical, the 30-year-old is not officially Arsenal’s second signing this summer behind Stephan Lichsteiner, as the club are apparently unable to announce the deal due to Dortmund holding off the deal until the next financial year. This means the move will not be made official until at least July 1st.

Sokratis is an exciting coup for Arsenal who are making big movements already in the transfer market to solidify their leaky defence that cost them so dearly last season.

The centre-back started his career at AEK Athens before spending time in Italy with Genoa and AC Milan. He then moved over to Germany with Werder Bremen before making a move to Dortmund where he is expected to depart in favour of Arsenal.

The player’s father, Charalambos Papastathopoulos, made the potential deal even sweeter when he revealed that his son rejected Manchester United in order to join the Gunners.

“There was interest from United but for July, he had to wait until July for United,” he told Radio 24/7 88.6.

“United have a very good relationship with Dortmund, the teams speak a lot, but Sokratis chose to go to Arsenal.”