Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis has confirmed that his Serie A club are looking to sign defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos from Arsenal.
The quotes from IlNapoliOnline.com state that De Laurentiis said:
We are working on signing Sokratis Papastathopoulos from Arsenal, we consider it an option.
Napoli had reportedly been interested in Gabriel Magalhães, who opted for a move to the Gunners, leading to officials at the Italian club looking to the Arsenal squad for their contingency plan.
The Naples club look set to lose Kalidou Koulibaly to Manchester City in the coming days and boss Gennaro Gattuso is in desperate need to strengthen his backline and it seems like the 32-year old seems to fit the bill.
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Italy legend Gattuso will know all about Sokratis’ attributes, and perhaps his downfalls, as the pair played together at AC Milan between 2010 and 2012.
Mikel Arteta is unlikely to stand in the way of the Greece international’s departure, despite the fact that Arsenal are likely to suffer a significant loss on the £15 million they paid to Borussia Dortmund in 2018.
Having made 69 appearances in all competitions, Sokratis has served the club well during his time at the Emirates, although now as Arteta attempts to take the club forward, it makes sense to let him move on and give others a chance to take the Gunners to the next level.
