Arsenal are embroiled in a transfer saga as they look to wrap up a deal for Lille defender Gabriel Magalhaes.
The Gunners have reportedly had an £22m offer for the 22-year-old accepted by the Ligue 1 outfit, but are awaiting a decision from the player who is also attracting interest from Napoli.
In fact, according to reports in Italy, Napoli have asked Gabriel to delay his decision.
The Serie A side are keen for the central defender to wait a few more days as they plan to raise funds by selling Kalidou Koulibaly to Manchester City.
Any deal taking the Senegal international to the Etihad Stadium could be in the region of £60m and Gennaro Gattuso's side have earmarked Gabriel as his direct replacement.
However, Koulibaly's future may not affect Arsenal's plans to sign Gabriel.
This is because Tuttosport claim Napoli are in advanced negotiations with the Gunners to sign Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
Furthermore, the report states that Kostas Manolas is urging his Greece international teammate to swap the Emirates Stadium for the San Paolo.
Sokratis has fallen out of favour under Mikel Arteta since lockdown, but could he be part of a triple transfer merry-go-round that ends with Gabriel joining the Gunners.
Sokratis has previously revealed where he'd like to play after leaving Arsenal - and it's not in Serie A.
"In the summer I will be 31, I have two years of contract with Arsenal, then I would like to play in the US or in Asia," he told Kicker, as per Calciomercato in 2019.
"Greece, in the team of my city."
With that said, Sokratis does have fond memories of Italian football from watching as a kid to spells with Genoa as well as AC Milan.
"When I was growing up, I studied the Italian style of defending. I'd watch defenders like Paolo Maldini and Fabio Cannavaro," Sokratis told Arsenal.com.
"Roberto Ayala was also very good. Then as I got older, I'd look at players like Carles Puyol. Players who won a lot and had a lot of quality, too.
"Football has changed a lot in the past 10 or 12 years. When I started football, I was in Italy. I was in Greece first, but afterwards I made the step to Italy.
"It was not so necessary to play out from the back and because of this, you also didn’t concede a lot of chances or a lot of goals."
