Arsenal: So, what’s going on with Sokratis these days?

Arsenal brought in Sokratis to be a solution, and he was one until he wasn’t allowed to be one anymore. So what’s going on here?

Not many people were impressed when Arsenal purchased Sokratis from Borussia Dortmund as the only centerback signing of the summer. The club had just given up over 50 goals for the first time in ages and their best solution was a budget defender who was past his prime.

But it didn’t take long to see the value in someone as no-nonsense as Sokratis. After about three matches, it became clearer and clearer that Sokratis was so no nonsense that he was actually mopping up a lot of Shkodran Mustafi’s spilled nonsense as well.

He became something of a guardian angel, allowing Mustafi to play his highly-impacting defensive style while Sokratis stayed at home and prevented disasters. It seemed to be the perfect partnership.

Until he got hurt, and then hurt again. Rob Holding stepped in, the young, exuberant Rob Holding, and just like that, the solution that was actually a solution after all wasn’t allowed to be a solution at all.

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He’s been on the bench in the Premier League for a few weeks now, only suiting up for midweek fixtures, and while the defense hasn’t been the worst offender, I can’t help but wonder if they couldn’t have been even stronger with the presence of the big Greek.

Instead, Unai Emery has been sticking with the Mustafi/Holding pairing that is equal parts exciting and terrifying, always capable of either thwarting any given attack, or falling victim to careless mistakes.

It’s easy to speculate what Unai Emery may be doing. Maybe he’s waiting for one of either Holding or Mustafi to weed themselves out, as he is unable to discern which one would be better off with Sokratis. Maybe he is, yet again, trying to get younger first, and get better second.

Maybe he just really likes the flash-and-bang of Mustafi and Holding teaming up, because goodness knows they have a lot of both.

Maybe he wants to pair Sokratis with Mavropanos, who is due back in action soon, and wants to ensure that the two can be paired as simply as can be.

I’m not complaining, really. I’m just curious. Sokratis was a reliable, steadfast defender, which is exactly what we would have wanted following the defensive debacle that was last year. So what’s going on there?