Arsenal fans have been warned that there is a problem with their new signing Sokratis Papastothopoulos. The 30-year old Greek center-back joined the Gunners from Borussia Dortmund on 2nd July.
However, the Arsenal fans have been told that Sokratis has a major flaw which is “he’s poor with the ball at his feet.”
Sky Germany’s Bundesliga expert Max Bielefeld has said that Sokratis will be a hit in the Premier League. “Sokratis Papastathopoulos is a defender I imagine performing pretty well in the Premier League,” said Bielefeld in a transfer talk podcast.
Bielefeld added, “He’s good in the one-on-one situations, he’s a good header of the ball, he’s really aggressive kind of defender. He’s good in the one-on-one situations, he’s a good header of the ball, he’s really aggressive kind of defender.
But he always has had his limits when it comes to playing the ball out the back, producing some play. You can’t compare him to Jerome Boateng who really likes to play the vertical passes from defense. He has some problems with the ball. Without the ball he is a really heavy defender.”
Bielefeld also had words of praise for Papastathopoulos against strikers, stating, “German strikers hated to play against him. They told us their whole body hurt after a match against Papastathopoulos.”
“I think he will do very well at Arsenal. He’s a solid defender but don’t expect a new world-class defender at Arsenal.”
The Greek will be traveling to Singapore with the remainder of the Arsenal squad to play pre-season friendlies against PSG and Atletico Madrid.
