If it is as much as €35m, it'll no doubt be heavily structured and incentivised.

Mirth wrote:

The thing is - if he really is any good then this time next year he'll be snapped up by one of the bigger clubs. We might have to sign a few duds but in terms of transfer strategy I'd rather splash the cash on promising young players

From Freiburg? I doubt it. Don't mind taking a punt and ending up with a few duds (if you're being cynical you'd say we already did that with a couple of the kids in our squad) but 35m is not a punt - if you spend that much you better be sure and the likes of Diallo or Pavard are a much better bet.

The 35m fee is a bit misleading. A lot of it is based on future appearances.

Getting him in would be a good start to the window.

All transfer fees are relative. If there's a cheaper, better, available alternative in Diallo, then the price is too high for this guy.

Not sure why we would even bid that much, there's no bidding war and Freiburg would probably sell for a lot less

Clrnc wrote:

The 35m fee is a bit misleading. A lot of it is based on future appearances.

Getting him in would be a good start to the window.

Yeah, I was about to point out the same thing. The article says it's a deal "worth up to £35 million", which means it probably includes a bunch of performance-based clauses. No issues from me if that's the case. If he ends up meeting them I'd be happy to pay a few extra million to Freiburg. The question is how much the base contract is worth.

Sokratis is pretty middle of the road, but we're working under constraints so i expected there would be some 'warm body' type signings

If he's free, I don't see why not. We should still be making a big defensive signing anyway. That'd be pretty good business all told, we need 2 CBs and I'd rather one big signing and one freebie than 2 Johnny Evans types.

Coombs wrote:

If he's free, I don't see why not.

Sure. We need an experienced head and a new marque defender. Sokratis is an okay stop-gap solution for a season if it frees up funds for the other one. Chambers is alright as a third choice but he can't start, and Mustafi needs to be binned before I lose my sanity.

sokratis is only 29, still has a few good years in him, surely. and hes greek, he can help our young greek kid

who is the best greek goalkeeper? karnezis? kapino? get them in too

Klaus wrote:

Coombs wrote:

If he's free, I don't see why not.

Sure. We need an experienced head and a new marque defender. Sokratis is an okay stop-gap solution for a season if it frees up funds for the other one. Chambers is alright as a third choice but he can't start, and Mustafi needs to be binned before I lose my sanity.

I seriously doubt we'll spend more than 20-25m on a cb this window

Rather get Evans for the supposed 3M than a perennially injured defender from Dortmund.

Di Marzio: Sokratis will be the first post-Wenger signing with negotiations in very advanced stage

We are getting the wrong Greek, Manolas is the one we want.
Sokratis is not a lot better then Mustafi(who is 4 years younger)...don't know what to think about this. I guess if we get him for like 15 mil, and sell Mustafi for 30. We make some cash and get a player a little bit better. Don't know...

Edit: now on BILD to.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos is set to join Arsenal for around €20m, becoming the first signing in the post-Wenger era. [BILD]

I'm fine with Sokratis signing. Not the flashiest of defenders but usually very solid and unlike his compatriot Manolas who's better 1v1 he can actually organise a defence by himself. WAZ who are usually well informed about Dortmund news say a sale would be around 15m, Sokratis himself said yesterday he doesn't know where he'll play next season

Good defender and definitely a leader at the back type, if he has finally gotten over his injuries it'll mean we are getting him at his best at 29/30. Good signing and certainly the type you need during a turnover/handover season like the upcoming one

Good to hear, Jones. We desperately need leadership and experience in defence.

We're building a nice ex-Dortmund core at the club.

For some reason, when I first read his name I read it as Milinstat rather than Mislintat. I don't generally have that issue with words or names, but with him it's stuck now even though his name has been bandied about so much in recent months. He's just Sven Milinstat to me.