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Sokratis Papastathopoulos to reject Manchester United to join Arsenal
Borussia Dortmund defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos is set to move to Arsenal for a fee in the region of €19m, according to Sky Sports. The Greek centre-back was identified by head scout Sven Mislintat who had worked with him when he was at the Bundesliga club.
But according to The Independent, it was the defender's father Charalambos Papastathopoulos who confirmed on a Greek radio station called Radio 24/7 that he was moving to Arsenal after snubbing Manchester United.
"He is currently in England and will be doing everything he needs on Tuesday," he said. “There was interest from United but he had to wait until July for them.
“United have a very good relationship with Dortmund, the teams talked but Sokratis chose to go to Arsenal."
Arsenal are desperately in need of a centre-back now that Per Mertesacker has retired and because Laurent Koscielny will not be available until 2019 as he nurses an Achilles injury.
