According to Hurriyet, Fenerbahçe are in talks with Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos ahead of the January transfer window.
It is said that the £92,000-a-week man has already held a positive meeting with the Turkish Super Lig outfit.
Sokratis – along with Mesut Ozil – has been excluded by Mikel Arteta.
The duo have been omitted from the Gunners’ Premier League and Europa League squad.
Significantly, the Greece international’s contract at the Emirates expires in June, so he is free to speak to clubs about a pre-contract agreement from January.
The transfer also looks likely to happen as Hurriyet state that the former Borussia Dortmund defender wants to leave north London.
So far this season, the 32-year-old has made just two appearances, and none for the Arsenal first-team.
Sokratis has made one Premier League 2 appearance, and has appeared once in the Papa John’s Trophy.
Seeing as Arteta has an abundance of centre-back options, losing the Greek defender wouldn’t be a nightmare.
The Spaniard has Gabriel Magalhaes, David Luiz, Rob Holding, William Saliba, Pablo Mari, Calum Chambers and Shkodran Mustafi to choose from aside from Sokratis.
Given the fact he’s earning £92,000-a-week, it would be best if Arteta removed the out-of-favour defender from the wage bill as soon as possible.
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