‘Working on it’: Club president says he wants to sign Arsenal player

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Napoli are ‘working on’ a deal that would see Sokratis Papastathopoulos leave Arsenal for the Serie A giants, president Aurelio de Laurentiis has told Radio Kiss Kiss, via CalcioNapoli24.

With Arkadiusz Milik, Kalidou Koulibaly, Allan and more attracting interest from all over Europe, this summer was always shaping up to be a testing one for a Partenopei side who finished seventh in Serie A last season, missing out on a European place as a result.

Allan is on the verge of becoming the dynamic defensive midfielder Everton have been missing since Idrissa Gana Gueye’s departure, while star defender Koulibaly is expected to have a new club by the time the window slams shut in October with Manchester City’s interest well documented.

Sokratis, then, would be under major pressure if he moves to the Stadio San Paolo.

Replacing arguably the finest centre-half on the planet is easier said than done, after all.

“Papastathopoulos? We are working on it, we are seeing (if a deal can be agreed),” De Laurentiis explains.

With Gabriel Magalhaes and Pablo Mari joining Arsenal on permanent deals, and David Luiz signing a one-year contract extension, Sokratis is likely to find game time difficult to come by in 2019/20.

The former AC Milan and Dortmund powerhouse was left out of the starting XI for Arsenal’s last nine Premier League games last season and featured for just two minutes in the FA Cup final triumph over Chelsea.

The Mirror this week suggested that, with just a year left on his contract, Sokratis could leave Arsenal for as little as £3.5 million.