DBasia.news – Arsenal and Sokratis Papastathopoulos’ togetherness has officially ended. Arsenal management officially terminated his contract on Wednesday (20/1).
Following Mesut Ozil’s departure for Fenerbahce, Greek defender Sokratis Papasthopoulos was also allowed to leave by Arsenal. It was confirmed from the club’s official website through Sporting Director, Edu’s statement that Sokratis’ contract was terminated at the agreement of the two parties.
“On behalf of Mikel (Arteta), our coaches, our players and everyone at the club, I want to thank Papa for his contribution to the club,” said Edu on Arsenal’s official website.
“He has been an important part of our group and has been a professional model over the years. The negotiations to terminate his contract are collaborative and we wish Papa and his family well for the future.”
No doubt Arsenal has released two players whose names were crossed out by Mikel Arteta in the squad for the Premier League and Europa League. Sokratis (32 years old) came from Borussia Dortmund in 2018 for 14 million pounds.
Since then the Greek national team center-back has made 69 appearances for Arsenal. His last competitive appearance came in August last year when Arsenal played Chelsea at Wembley in the FA Cup final.
With the termination of hiz contract, Sokratis is free to choose his new club because of his free agent status. Reportedly Real Betis are interested in recruiting him. However, they must first sell players before recruiting Sokratis to pay his salary.
Because Betis’ financial condition, like other clubs, was also affected by the corona virus pandemic. If they insist on recruiting Sokratis, Betis could violate the FFP (Financial Fair Play) rules.
Betis reportedly will release Sidnei or William Carvalho to pay the salary of Sokratis, who receives five million pounds per season at Arsenal. Apart from Betis, Napoli is reportedly also interested in Sokratis.