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Arsenal target Dortmund's Sokratis as part of defensive overhaul

The Gunners are yet to settle on a replacement for Arsene Wenger, but that has not stopped them planning for next season as head of recruitment Sven Mislintat is working on the signings in the summer.

Borussia Dortmund centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos

Bengaluru, May 4: Arsenal reportedly want to overhaul their entire defence this summer after enduring a difficult season this time out.

They were knocked out from the semis of the Europa League by Atletico Madrid and they key reason behind their failure this campaign is lack of a stable defence and that has alarmed the board.

The Gunners are yet to settle on a replacement for Arsene Wenger, but that has not stopped them planning for next season as head of recruitment Sven Mislintat is working on the signings in the summer.

Borussia Dortmund centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos is an Arsenal target as Mislintat is understood to have started the search for a new-look back five.

Head of recruitment Mislintat is said to have close ties with Papastathopoulos' agent and is eyeing a raid on his former club for the Greek international, who has just over a year left on his contract and will come on the cheap.

Wenger's shambolic defence was again in tatters as Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi combined to gift Atletico Madrid a late equaliser in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final. Last night, Diego Costa absolutely destroyed Hector Bellerin for the only goal in the second leg which took the Spanish club to the final.

Reports in England claim that Mislintat and Gunners' head of football relations Raul Sanllehi have already compiled a list of defensive targets and want at least five new defenders.

They are also looking for a new first-choice goalkeeper with Petr Cech's mistakes costing him his position to error-prone David Ospina. Arsenal have conceded 48 Premier League goals this season, 11 more than any top seven side.

If they let in two more in their three remaining games – against Burnley, Leicester and Huddersfield – it will be the most they have conceded in a league campaign since the 60 they did in 1983-84, when the top flight consisted of 22 teams.

Mislintat is said to be keen to bring in Liverpool's on-leave assistant Zeljko Buvac, who is now the bookie's favourite to take over from Wenger.

The Gunners prefer a training-ground coach rather than a manager who will recruit players and Buvac is brilliant when it comes to that and is on good terms with Mislintat as well.

However, big names like former Barcelona coach Luis Enrique and Juventus boss Max Allegri are other frontrunners for the job.

Story first published: Friday, May 4, 2018, 10:57 [IST]
Other articles published on May 4, 2018