Arsenal’s 9 Central Defenders Since Gabriel Paulista – Ranked

8. Sokratis Papastathopoulos

At the time, this came across as a neat bit of business. A vastly experienced centre-back joining from a major European side, who’d won titles in his career; was aggressive, yet meticulous; commanding, but quick off the mark. For £14.5m, too? Yeah, Sven ‘Diamond Eyes’ Mislintat working his magic.

No. No, and no.

The amount of decent games Sokratis had for Arsenal can be counted on one hand. Honestly, it’s been so long since he went a game without a distinguishable error that it’s hard to recall whether he ever went through 90 minutes unscathed.

He was past it when he came. He looks beyond the realms of even bang average at present. Please, Serie A, take him.