Arsenal transfer news: New manager Unai Emery close to completing £16m deal for Sokratis Papastathopoulos

Arsenal initially offered roughly £13m but they are expected to meet Dortmund’s asking price of £16m to complete the deal this week

Arsenal are close to making Borussia Dortmund’s £16million Sokratis Papastathopoulos their first signing of their summer.

Recruitment chief Sven Mislintat is targeting a total defensive overhaul this summer, to help Unai Emery who replaced Arsene Wenger as head coach last week. They want as many as four new defenders this window after a disastrous season at the back.

Mislintat knows 29-year-old Sokratis well from his own time at Dortmund and now Arsenal are in advanced negotiations to bring him to the Emirates. Arsenal initially offered roughly £13m but they are expected to meet Dortmund’s asking price of £16m to complete the deal this week. Sokratis has one year left on his Dortmund contract and is eager to join Arsenal.

Sokratis has played for Dortmund for five years, joining from Werder Bremen, after playing for Genoa and AC Milan after leaving Greece. He has 79 caps for the national team, representing them at Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup.

Papasthopoulous would be the third former Dortmund player that Mislintat had signed for Arsenal since taking charge of recruitment at the Emirates last year.

Arsenal signed Pierre Emerick Aubameyang from Dortmund in Janaury and then took former Dortmund midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Manchester United as part of the Alexis Sanchez deal.