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Football London
Football London
Sport
Jamie Kemble

The reason Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos did not complete deadline day PSG transfer

Arsenal rejected the chance to offload defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos on deadline day.

Sokratis was linked with an exit throughout the summer transfer window but failed to get a move before the Monday night deadline.

Though, the Gunners were reportedly offered the opportunity to offload the Greek, something they may now regret turning down with too many non-homegrown players in their squad.

According to the Daily Star, French champions PSG offered to sign Sokratis before the deadline but Arsenal rejected the offer.

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With Sokratis' contract at the Emirates Stadium set to expire next summer, PSG offered to take the defender but on a free.

And it seems Arsenal weren't keen on that proposal, deciding to turn it down.

That's despite Sokratis being able to agree to sign for PSG - or any other non-English club - for free from January ahead of the end of the season.

That means it is likely Arsenal won't get a fee for the 31-year-old anyway but evidentially decided it was better to have him around as cover.

PSG boss Thomas Tuchel was keen on a move having worked with Sokratis during the pair's Borussia Dortmund days.

Arsenal signed the defender from Dortmund in 2018 for just under £15million.

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