JOSHUA PECK
Arsenal legend, Ray Parlour, has likened new signing Sokratis to Tony Adams.
The defender was brought in from Borussia Dortmund earlier this summer after Arsenal conceded 54 goals in last season’s Premier League. He will challenge Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi and Calum Chambers in Unai Emery’s defence.
It comes after Per Mertesacker retired from playing though Konstantinos Mavropanos shone in the back-line towards the end of last campaign. But Parlour believes Sokratis Papastathopoulos can star for Arsenal in the coming season.
“Arsenal badly needed to improve their defence following last season and Emery has clearly made that a priority this summer,” Parlour told bWIN.
“I think Sokratis is a good signing and he will be a no-nonsense, traditional defender in the mould of Tony Adams rather than someone who wants to play out from the back.
“Sokratis is very experienced and he’s a big game player with great leadership qualities.
“The fact he knows [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang and [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan so well is a bonus too.”
Arsenal have had a busy transfer window so far, also bringing Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi, Bernd Leno and Stephan Lichtsteiner to the Emirates.
It comes after Emery replaced Arsene Wenger at the Premier League club at the beginning of the summer.
Wenger departed after 22 years in charge, during which time he won three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups.
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