Sky Sports News reporter Dharmesh Sheth claims Arsenal have agreed a deal for Sokratis Papastathopoulos, to be announced in July, and Caglar Soyuncu is next.

Speaking on the Transfer Talk podcast, Sheth gave the latest updates on his understanding of the situation at Arsenal at the moment.

“We understand they have agreed a deal with Borussia Dortmund for the defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos,” he said. “That transfer is expected to be formally announced on July 1. That seems to be all done according to our information. Why July 1? It’s the start of the new tax quarter in Germany.

“The next one is Caglar Soyuncu. His agent says Mislintat has been an admirer since he was at Dortmund. He says, the agent that is, that talks are concrete and all that needs to be determined is the price.”

Sheth certainly isn’t the first to claim that the Sokratis deal is done. David Ornstein said the same thing in his most recent update on the situation at Arsenal. It’s good that the club have got at least two signings out of the way early on, and the reason why they’re waiting until July to announce it makes sense.

Soyuncu as the next target is a bit of a surprise though. Most outlets report that Arsenal are much closer to signings like Lucas Torreira from Sampdoria, or Bernd Leno from Bayer Leverkusen. Of course, the Torreira deal is complicated by the ongoing World Cup, so perhaps that makes a quick Soyuncu transfer more likely.

If true though, it would be another good signing for Arsenal. Soyuncu played consistently for Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2017/18, making 30 appearances, despite being just 22 years old. He’s also now a constant presence in the Turkish national team, playing every minute of their matches this year. Let’s hope it goes through.