Sokratis Papastathopoulos’ agent says he’ll stay with Arsenal this summer, and he can’t see any reason for the defender to leave.

Michail Antonio of West Ham United battles for possession with Sokratis Papastathopoulos of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and West Ham United at Emirates Stadium on March 07, 2020 in London, United Kingdom.
LONDON, ENGLAND: Michail Antonio battles for possession with Sokratis Papastathopoulos on March 07, 2020. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Sokratis’ agent Konstantinos Farras claims any rumours suggesting the player will leave Arsenal this summer are ‘wrong’ and ‘fake news’.

Despite the fact that Arsenal are willing to listen to offers for Sokratis, and cash in before his contract expires next summer, Farras says he doesn’t see why the defender should move on.

“He [Sokratis] will stay,” Farras told Freddie Paxton. “I don’t see a reason to leave. I don’t know why everyone is writing wrong and fake news.”

The obvious reason why most are expecting Sokratis to leave is his gametime. The centre-back was a regular under Unai Emery, starting and playing 90 minutes in all-but-one of his league games this season. Freddie Ljungberg treated him roughly the same.

However, Mikel Arteta seems to have a lot less faith in the 32-year-old. He’s started four league games in 20 under Arteta, despite making the squad 15 times. He hasn’t come off the bench in any of those matches.

The only time Sokratis did get onto the pitch post-lockdown was for one minute against Sheffield United in the FA Cup quarter-final. Arsenal had just retaken the lead and Arteta was packing the box.

Other than that, Sokratis isn’t playing at all, despite Arsenal’s defensive problems.

With all the injuries and poor performances, there’s hardly a better team to break in. But he isn’t, so the logical expectation is that he’ll leave this summer. According to his agent, apparently not, though I still wouldn’t rule it out completely.