After months of speculation, Arsenal have finally completed the signing of Sokratis Papastathopoulos from Borussia Dortmund for a reported fee worth around €19 million. The 29-year-old, who also has vast experience on the international stage having made 79 appearances for Greece, will wear the No 5 shirt at his new club. In consequence, the center-back becomes Unai Emery’s third signing of the summer after the free transfer of experienced Switzerland captain Stephan Lichsteiner and goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
“It is a beautiful moment and I am very happy that for the next years I will be here. Arsenal are one of the three biggest teams in the Premier League,” Papastathopoulos told Arsenal’s website.
“I’m a normal defender. I like to defend. I like that my team doesn’t take goals. I like a zero in the defence and I will do everything to help to achieve this goal.”
Here’s how Twitter reacted to the sensational news.
Arsenal now have three former Borussia Dortmund players in their current first-team squad:
• Henrikh Mkhitaryan
• Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
• Sokratis PapastathopoulosEx-BVB Head of Recruitment Sven Mislintat with some *big-name* signings. pic.twitter.com/6gEJwlG9A8
— Squawka News (@SquawkaNews) July 2, 2018
Arsenal signings in 2018:
Konstantinos Mavropanos
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Stephan Lichtsteiner
Sokratis PapastathopoulosPaul Merson on Soccer Saturday having to pronounce them 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/qB8m8JK1Bz
— Free Super Tips (@FootySuperTips) July 2, 2018
New Arsenal signing Sokratis Papastathopoulos looks over the moon to have joined the club pic.twitter.com/axMr2kf6Ov
— elliot ross (@elliot__ross) July 2, 2018
https://twitter.com/UNILADFooty/status/1013817192872280065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1013817192872280065&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sportskeeda.com%2Ffootball%2Ftwitter-reacts-as-arsenal-announce-the-signing-of-sokratis-papastathopoulos
Think #SOKRATIS Papastathopoulos will be a somewhat good signing for Arsenal. His career at Dortmund has been decent overall and will add much needed experience with PM retired and LK out for a long time. A better defender than SM and can help tutor our younger defenders. #afc
— John. (@ByJohnSmith) July 2, 2018
All of us when we finally announced #SOKRATIS 😃 pic.twitter.com/Q7QCShJHA5
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 2, 2018
#DerPapaMachtEsGut pic.twitter.com/IWPeXH0RSt
— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) July 2, 2018