As reported earlier, Arsenal have apparently agreed a fee to bring the Leipzig defender Dayot Upamecano to the Emirates, which will leave the Gunners with EIGHT centre-backs on their books when Mavropanos and Saliba come back to London after their loan deals.
Having those two back plus Upamecano, plus Mustafi, Pablo Mari, Sokratis, Holding and Luiz is just too many for Arsenal to sustain next season so there are certain to be at least a couple of departures. Possibly Mari may be sent back to Brazil (although I don’t think so) and Mavropanos may be loaned again or sold to raise funds, but I fully expected the two ageing defenders Sokratis and Luiz to be allowed to leave to make room for the new arrivals.
But there have been rumours that Luiz is set to receive a two-year extension to his contract, which leaves Sokratis now as the most likely to be the first defender out the door.
Football.London has recently said that the big Greek is expecting to be sold, especially as he only been used sparingly by Mikel Arteta, and those appearances were mostly at right back, while Mustafi could be sold but we are unlikely to find a buyer willingly to match his wages that we pay him. Perhaps we could send him out on loan for the last year of his contract?
That may even be the only solution to the Sokratis situation as well, but surely he has to go some way or another?
