Arsenal have announced the signing of defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos from Borussia Dortmund on a "long-term contract" for a fee in the region of €19 million (£16.7m/$22.4m).
Greece international Sokratis becomes the second player the Gunners have signed from Dortmund in the last year after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joined for a club record fee in the January transfer window .
The 29-year-old is an experienced centre-back who shares the same agent as compatriot Konstantinos Mavropanos, another player scouted and signed by Arsenal’s new head of recruitment Sven Mislintat at the turn of the year.
Mislintat maintains a close relationship with senior figures at Dortmund, where he spent over a decade as their chief scout, and played an influential part in Arsenal’s January signings of Mavropanos, Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the latter being another ex-Dortmund player whom the German knows well.