Stuttgart are poised to make approaches for several Arsenal players this summer, including centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
Sven Mislintat, Arsenal’s former head of recruitment, is the sporting director at the German side, who recently won promotion back to the Bundesliga.
The Independent understands Mislintat has retained an interest in a number of Arsenal players, with defender Dinos Mavropanos, who spent last season at 2.Bundesliga side Nurnberg, already close to agreeing a loan move.
Veteran centre-back Sokratis, who has just one year remaining on his contract, is also of interest. Mislintat was responsible for signing the 32-year-old from Borussia Dortmund in 2018, however, Sokratis’ wages could make an agreement problematic.
Mislintat left Arsenal under acrimonious circumstances in February 2019 after an internal power struggle with head of football Raul Sanllehi.
The German has since privately described Arsenal’s hierarchical structure as an “absolute mess”, “dysfunctional and with no clear plan”.
Mislintat personally oversaw the signing of several generational talents at Borussia Dortmund, including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Robert Lewandowski and Matts Hummels.
At Arsenal, he upheld that reputation, even if signings such as Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Matteo Guendouzi, Bernd Leno and Lucas Torreira have performed with varying degrees of success.
