Report: Arsenal player agrees £40k-a-week contract at new club; accepts pay cut to leave Gunners

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Sokratis Papastathopoulos is closing in on a move away from Arsenal after agreeing a £45,000-a-week contract with Napoli, according to TuttoNapoli.

Partenopei president Aurelio de Laurentiis has been even more outspoken than ever recently.

After confirming that centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly will be riding into the sunset if Manchester City can agree an acceptable fee for arguably the world’s best defender, the Napoli chief added that he had found the Senegal star’s replacement.

A deal to bring Sokratis to Southern Italy is being ‘worked on’, De Laurentiis claimed.

According to the latest reports emerging today, Napoli are quite advanced in negotiations too.

A deal worth around £45,000-a-week has been agreed, with Sokratis seemingly willing to take a pay cut in order to secure a return to Serie A.

What’s more, with just a year left on his contract, Arsenal are willing to sell the former AC Milan powerhouse for a reduced fee of around £2.5 million.

The 32-year-old Greek international struggled for game-time once Mikel Arteta got his feet under the table at the Emirates last season, sitting on the bench for each of Arsenal’s last nine Premier League games while spending just two minutes on the pitch during the FA Cup triumph over Chelsea.