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Center Back - Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund to Arsenal, £17.7 million)
Another Arsenal recruit, Sokratis joined the London outfit from Borussia Dortmund for £17.6 million. He was known as the undisputed leader in the Dortmund defence line. He is known for having an incredible physical presence and being very dangerous in the air. With the departures of Gabriel and the retirement of Mertesacker, Sokratis is a very valuable addition to Arsenal's line-up.
Starting off in AEK Athens, his early career was uneventful as he soon left Greece for Italy. There, he played for Genoa before moving to AC Milan. But he never broke into Milan's first team and was then loaned out to Werder Bremen before making the switch permanent. It was at Werder Bremen that Sokratis had his break-out performance and was soon picked up by Borussia Dortmund following a controversial exit from Bremen. Sokratis was expected to be the 3rd choice Center back but soon fought his way into the first team. In his 5 seasons with Dortmund, he won a DFB Pokal and two German Super Cups.
He has had 79 caps for the Greek National Team and has represented his country in the 2014 World Cup and 2012 Euro Cup. He scored a very important goal against Costa Rica in the Pre-Quarter Finals of the 2014 World Cup. The equalizer came when his team was 1-0 down and pushed the game to penalty shoot-outs. Although Greece would go on to lose the match, Sokratis gained praise for his performance. With him among the ranks, Arsenal looks strong in the defensive department.
