According to RomaPress, Sokratis Papastathopoulos has been offered to Serie A outfit Roma as their hopes of signing Manchester United’s Chris Smalling fade.
The report also states that Sokratis – formerly of Borussia Dortmund – is not in Mikel Arteta’s plans, with his contract at the Emirates set to expire next summer.
Additionally, the 32-year-old’s agent Konstantinos Farras has been trying to find his client a solution all window, but nothing has materialsed.
However, if Roma are definitively told by Manchester United that Smalling will not be moving clubs, the Europa League side could make a late swoop for Sokratis.
The Greece international – who earns £92,000-a-week according to Spotrac – faces serious competition for a place in Arteta’s team right now.
Sokratis has the likes of Gabriel Magalhães, Rob Holding, David Luiz, Shkodran Mustafi, Calum Chambers, William Saliba and Pablo Mari to compete with in north London.
The centre-back department is arguably Arteta’s most bloated, so perhaps an exit for the Greek defender wouldn’t be the worst thing if he’s searching for regular game time.
For now, Arsenal will be hanging onto the Kalamata-born centre-back.
However, if United put their foot down and tell Roma to forget about Smalling, things could change very quickly.
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