Arsenal: Mikel Arteta reflects on Premier League campaign
Arsenal centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos will not be sold in the upcoming transfer window. That's according to the player's agent Konstantinos Farras, who branded the speculation as "fake news."
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Sokratis arrived from Borussia Dortmund for £17.7million in July 2018.
He's since registered 68 appearances for the north London club - scoring six goals and providing two assists in all competitions.
But things haven't gone smoothly for the 90-capped Greece international since Mikel Arteta's arrival at the Emirates Stadium.
The 32-year-old was a regular under Unai Emery but has only featured once for Arsenal since the Spaniard's arrival in December.
Sokratis is behind David Luiz, Rob Holding, Pablo Mari and Shkodran Mustafi and will likely fall further down the pecking order after the arrival of William Saliba.
Papastathopoulos has entered the final year of his contract, which expires in June 2021.
And he's been linked with Stuttgart who, having secured promotion from Germany's second-tier to the Bundesliga, are on the look-out for defensive additions.
Arsenal’s former head of recruitment Sven Mislintat was appointed Stuttgart's sporting director in April 2019 and is responsible for bringing Sokratis to the Premier League.
But Sokratis' agent Farras has dismissed any possibility of a departure.
"Sokratis will stay. I don’t see a reason to leave. I don’t know why everyone is writing wrong and fake news," he told journalist Fred Paxton.
Transfer News: Sokratis' agent has branded speculation as 'fake news' (Image: GETTY)
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However, the defender discussed his future back in March and conceded that he would consider his options.
"If I’m not happy, I don’t play enough or the coach doesn’t like me, I don’t care about the contract," he told reporters.
"For me, the money is not important, it is important I feel good, I feel happy and the team is happy with me. If not, I take the road and I finish.
"I don’t think about it, I think every day to be happy and help the team and in the end, we will see but what I say is that I am not a player who sits on a contract – I don’t need it."