Greek football expert speaks on Arsenal’s winter signing

Greek football expert Dimitris Samolis has spoken about the qualities of Konstantinous Mavropanos, who made a surprise switch to Arsenal during the winter transfer window. The Greek centre-back joined the north London side from PAS Giannina, having made just 16 senior appearances in his professional career.

In an interview with The Star, Samolis talked up the ability of the 20-year-old, and he reckons the defender could emerged as one of Greece’s best in the future, he said: “The biggest advantage of Mavropanos is his body. Tall player and powerful. Although he is tall, he is also fast and agile.

“Maybe he is not ready to play in Premier League, although I believe that in the future he will fit in a championship like the Premier League! I take the view that he will be called to the national team if he manages to play in a lot of games abroad. Of course Greece has great defenders and we will have one more in the coming years.”

The likes of Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Kostas Manolas have made a huge reputation in European football over the past few years, but the success of Greek players in foreign players in European leagues has been few and far between.

The central defensive department has been a concern for the Gunners in every season, and the signing of Mavropanos is likely to bring a sense of frustration from the fans as they could have focused their interest in an experienced option in the market.

Jonny Evans and unsurprisingly Manolas were touted for moves to the Emirates Stadium prior to the transfer deadline, but the Gunners were unsuccessful with their late approach. West Brom deemed the club’s offer for Evans to be ‘derisory’ whilst Roma did not have sufficient time to line up a replacement for Manolas.