Announcement date revealed as third summer signing will arrive Arsenal on Sunday

Arsenal have beaten Manchester United in signing Sokratis Papastathopoulos with a deal expected to be announced July 1, according to Sky Sports.

Arsenal’s head of recruitment, Sven Mislintat, has worked with the 30-year-old before in Germany and believes he would be a useful addition at Emirates Stadium.

Borussia Dortmund director Michael Zorc told Revier Sport that Papastathopoulos will be joining Arsenal but that the deal is not quite complete just yet.

On Tuesday, BvB announced that they had signed Abdou Diallo to replace the Arsenal-bound Greek.
“It tends to go there, that’s right. But things are not completely finalised yet,” said Zorc, when asked if Papastathopoulos is heading to the Emirates.

“And I will not work with you now and talk about the rumour mill, which includes 27 new BVB players since the end of May.

“In the meantime, we are having fun ourselves and planning. We have clear ideas and I am very sure that we will put together a very good team.

“This will not necessarily be the case until the start of the season, because the coach wants to make an impression on the players who are under contract with us.”

Dortmund are believed to be paying in the region of €25m for Diallo while Arsenal have agreed a fee of around €18.2m (£16m) for Sokratis.

According to Tutto Mercato Web, Papastathopoulos is still speaking to Arsenal about swapping Dortmund for north London.


It has been claimed Papastathopoulos will join Arsenal at the start of July to fit in with Dortmund’s accounting schedule.