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Fans slam decision to offload Arsenal ‘gladiator’ for measly £5M fee

Arsenal have agreed a deal to send Dinos Mavropanos back to Vfb Stuttgart on loan with an obligation to buy, and fans have not taken the news well.

The deal will become permanent next summer should the Bundesliga side retain their place in the top tier of German football, a highly-likely scenario considering they comfortably earned a mid-table finish last season.

There had been rumours toward the end of last term that the Greek defender would be given the chance to impress manager Mikel Arteta in pre-season ahead of the upcoming campaign, but his future now seems to be sealed away from the Emirates, and some fans have expressed their unhappiness with the deal.

While some seemingly refused to believe what is being reported, and another claimed that Dinos was better than Rob Holding…

I can’t help but feel pained figuring out the terms of this deal, with just £500K believed to be pocketed this summer, with another £3 Million plus £1.5 Million in bonuses (£5 Million total) agreed which they are obligated to pay once their Bundesliga survival is achieved for the coming campaign.

The Stuttgart manager must be praising his clubs ability to strike such a bargain deal for the defender, especially after he had hailed Dinos as a ‘gladiator’ and a ‘monster’ back in February.

He said (via the Express): “He’s our gladiator! He’s a monster in terms of physique.

“And when he makes a mistake, he hums around some Greek swear words.

“I like that. He’s just a tough dog.”

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Tags Konstantinos Mavropanos Stuttgart

40 Comments

  1. I really don’t get it. Both Mavroponos and William Saliba played their socks of last season. Although I didn’t watch Mavroponos, I watched William Saliba a lot. Saliba is clearly better than our present CB’s. More intelligent as a footballer in every way than Mari, Holding, and Gabriel and combative as well. It would make more sense to sell Holding and bring these two guys back into the fold. We will be doing a ‘Gnabry’ if we sell them and it will come back to haunt us. Why does 1 + 1 always seem to make 3 at Arsenal.

    1. Manager is a cheque book rookie, if he’s not buying someone that’s a “finished product” he’s not happy! He knows he cannot coach hence why he doesn’t want to take on any youngsters that need development and coaching. Saka and ESR exceptions as they are both extremely talented and solid players already.

      There’s no logical reason to not give both a chance this season.

      1. That comment is full of SOOOOO many ridiculous assumptions, I really don’t know where to start!

        1. @Admin you should focus on getting rid of these pop-up ads that cover half the screen and repeat every time you start scrolling.

          2. Mr Arrogant MARTINELLI The Bench, you would be better advised to grow up and realise that Ad PAT HAS A PERFECT RIGHT TO COMMENT ON HIS OWN SITE , AS HAS EVERY OTHER PERSON. Even, rather sadly, you too, much as I would prefer you did not post, as you have nothing of any sense to say!

      2. You talk nonsense.
        He gets the best out of Saka and ESR, sort the defence out, trying to rebuild the team. Yet, to you Saka and ESR are extremely talented that’s why.
        But, he’s a rookie because he doesn’t want some particular set of players you believe are also extremely talented.

        Stop confusing yourself.

    2. I think Mav played something like 16 times last season for Stuttgart (due to injuries) and was obviously monitored by Arsenal. Funny how we are all experts when it comes to what we think about a player we haven’t seen play 🙂.

      1. Declan, how many did Chambers played? Everything I read about White reminds me of what Chambers was foreseen to be, RB, right CB, DM…. what has he done since his 16m transfer to us. I’m not rejecting White and will start rooting for him once he is announced but I will not accept his price tag and that of Mavro. The best course of action is to sell Chambers and keep Mavro with White acquisition while I’m waiting to see what he can do. I put him in the same bracket with Sambi and their price should be so closed rather being wide apart

        1. Adiva, Chambers has only recently been given opportunity at RB after recovering from injury. He has received no chance to play DM, where he excelled on loan at Fulham. A valuable squad player given his versatility CB, RB and DM.

    3. Saliba is a talented player however at 20yo hes still very inexperience

      Mavroponos is also inexperience but he has proven himself in the league few year back….

      Holding at 25yo has league experience and hardworking

  2. i have seen him play both for AFC (1 magnificent display v mufc and 1 dodgy sending off spring to mind) and a few times for stuttgart .He is big and strong ,great in the air with that commented on gladiatorial presence. I would have loved to see him get to play for us regularly but his injury record is a natural concern.maybe getting something rather than paying a crock was the thinking behind it.I wish him well

  3. This is a case of kettle calling pot black. I have seen here fans saying..” get rid of so and so for at little as 10m. Yeah it was gotanidea that said Laca for 10m when the replacement him and others with same idea want acquire will cost multiple of 10m. Andre Silva 35m, Patson Daka, 20m, lsiak 65m. Where do they want the balance to come from. In Mavro, we are selling a player that has everything White has, taller and stronger and almost the same age if not the same for 5m and added 45m to it to get white. Anybody with a brain to think would never and should never blame Stan for not spending again because he allows it to be spent but our administrators and coaches are doing a bad job. This is his money and assets being mismanage. How much did Liverpool get Kanote Ibrahim from Leipzig? How much the BM got Uparmecano? These are not full national team player but we are selling one that we have and a good one for 5m + whatever the loan fee is to get another one who is just marking attendance or make up the number because MA is injured.

    1. The player asset management at Arsenal, as demonstrated by the Club’s ineptitude in the transfer market, is appalling.

      1. Apparently they are sniffing around Malen now. The same guy Arsenal sold for a paltry amount a couple of years ago.

        1. Ahmed, Arsenal management wouldn’t know a good footballer if they tripped over one. The neglect of the Academy talent, Saka (Emery) and ESR (Arteta by default) notwithstanding, has been criminal.

  4. Fans always complaining like it’s every kid in the club that’ll make it big at the club. Some will make it here, some will have to go make it out there. That’s it FFS. Also if some of you watch Mavropanos like you claim you do to say he’s better than Holding and co, you’d know that Mavro is a low block CB and not a ball playing well. He’s more suited to Low block teams. He’d do great at teams like Burnley and a few others.
    Clearly, the coach isn’t looking for low block CB, thats why the club is shelling out that ridiculous amount to sign Ben White

    1. That’s interesting. If mavro is a low block cb then holding definitely is too with his lack of mobility and his passing out the back can be dodgy at times and arguably mari as well. At least mavro has some pace. But I glad we are signing white and want to see him paired the with Gabriel or saliba

  5. I’ve never watched Mavro play so I’ve no idea if he is that good. If he is then wouldn’t other clubs be queuing up for his signature even though he is frequently hampered by injuries?
    It’s bad enough missing Tierney when he is injured without adding another injury prone player.
    Good luck to him in the future all the same

      1. You could ask the same this about Xhaka couldn’t you. Half the fans on here are convinced he’s a superb player that’s almost irreplaceable. Why aren’t clubs lining up for his signature and paying the relatively low price.

        1. Bought for 2m and sold for 2.5 times that. Maybe could have got a bit more but then possibly no sale on percentage – which, if he is half as good as half of the folks in here who haven’t seen him play says he is – should dwarf the £5m

          1. Voyager, you are correct; at least in the case of Mavropanos Arsenal is going to make a profit. That is what Sven “Diamond Eye” Mislantat, who scouted him, was famous for.

    3. That’s the thing SueP, and your opening sentence is bang on.

      Whenever a player is linked, suddenly everyone is an expert as to whether they are brilliant, good, bad or indifferent.

      Truth is, a good percentage know very little of what said players are actually like, and what they will bring to the side.

      As teams get knocked out of the Euro’s our window will gradually take shape.

      Let’s see who we actually get across the line.

  6. On one hand, this sounds criminally low for a young CB with resale value who performed very well last season.
    On the other hand, it seems that no other club anywhere has shown any interest so his market value automatically stays very low, maybe lower than it could another Summer…
    We unfortunately can’t really ask for what we’d want if no one wants Mavropanos enough to fork out 10+m 🤷‍♂️

  8. When I said these things back then, some “people” roasted me….

    Everyone can now clearly see that the recruitment team is GAMBLING.

    BEN WHITE is the kind of ball-playing centerback they had to buy last season. Instead, they went for GABRIEL, who has the mobility of an electric pole.

    Now they are clearly trying to rectify their mistakes. VERY IRONIC!!!

    And to think that some people have the AUDACITY to blame KROENKE, who has been trusting GAMBLERS….

    MAVROPANOS should have been retained to partner BEN WHITE in defence, because NO DEFENDER AT ARSENAL is better than him.

    It might just be the reason they are not willing to sell him just yet.

    But let me reserve my case there.

    2. Herbz, as I understand it, the Mavropanos deal with Stuttgart is a loan with guaranteed transfer at a predetermined price at the end of the loan. Are you saying that Arsenal has the option to retain the player at the end of the loan? If so that would be good news.

  9. Good luck to him injuries held him back, he is still young and I wish him the best mounting to top level and having a happy successful career.

    For me, I could argue against this and that, but I tend to not complain, until we pass the first 10 league matches with bad results. Other than that I will try to be a happy supporter and wish/assume that the experts at the club know best.

  10. Mavropanos has been sold for 5 mil and Stuttgart (9th) were the only team in for him but apparently it’s a massive mistake? Does that make Klopp a rookie manager too because he bought three cb’s in the last 2 windows but wasn’t interested in the cheaper mavro? As well as literally every other manager of clubs in Europe and especially Germany itself? Seriously do some of you not see how insane that line of thinking is?

    At least someone like willock or AMN (if they go to a mid/low bpl team) you can argue the top teams are stacked in the midfield and they have that hg value but really don’t understand this reaction here. Outraged for the sake of it seems right now.

    Serious question if Arteta is so bad (as many repeatedly insist on every article) at coaching why have our 3 biggest assets with an actual array of good alternative options signed new contracts under him? (Auba/Saka/Tierney) Where is the queue of clubs lining up for the rookies mismanaged talent that’s available? Surely they see what you do? Yet none of the players up for sale are linked with top clubs, none. Why? Xhaka may well end up with the highest profile move and that’s the one most don’t seem to care about lol.

  11. No biggie. Thats reward for Stuttgart for selling us Hleb who, in retrospect is better than both Nasri and Ozil.

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