It’s been almost since a year Arsenal terminated Sokratis Papastathopoulos’s contract at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal spent £17 million in signing the Greece international in the summer of 2018, during Unai Emery’s reign as head coach.
But Sokratis rapidly fell out of favour under Mikel Arteta and the Spaniard and Edu allowed the towering central defender to leave the Gunners last January as a free transfer.
He was a popular member of Arteta’s squad, evident by the reception he received from his former teammates when they faced off against him for Olympiacos shortly after leaving in the Europa League.
But Arsenal loanee Konstantinos Mavropanos was a massive fan of his fellow Greek defender.
Sokratis joined the North Londoners six months after a teenage Mavropanos did, and the big defender – on loan at Stuttgart – has admitted to Goal and Spox that getting a compatriot in the squad was worth gold to him.
He said: “When Sokratis came to Arsenal for the new season, it was worth its weight in gold for me. He was a mentor for me and helped me a lot off the pitch, but also in terms of reading the game from the defence, for example.”
Leadership
Indeed, Arteta himself seemed regretful that Sokratis’s Arsenal career ended how it did.
Speaking about the former Borussia Dortmund powerhouse in public, the Spanish manager invariably praised how he handled being exiled from Premier League and Europa League squads, as well as his leadership.
So for Mavropanos to wax lyrical about the Olympiacos defender and how he took him under his wing, well that certainly tallies with what Arteta had been saying about the player prior to his exit.
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