Report: Juventus include Arsenal defender on January wishlist

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Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos is one of the names on Juventus’s radar as the Old Lady await to find out how long Giorgio Chiellini will be out for, according to a report from Calciomercato.It.

Calciomercato suggests that Chiellini suffered a muscle injury in training. And it is claimed that the club are now considering potential targets for January in case he is sidelined for a substantial period.

The report names David Alaba as their top target. However, there are a host of other names on their list – including Jerome Boateng, Samuel Umtiti, Nikola Milenkovic and Sokratis.

Sokratis is yet to make an appearance for the Gunners this season. The 32-year-old was left out of Mikel Arteta’s squads for both the Premier League and in Europe.

So it would be no surprise if the Gunners were open to offers for the Greece international in January.

His contract expires next summer (via Transfermarkt). So Arsenal are surely holding out little hope of recouping anything like the £17.7 million they paid for him (fee reported by the Guardian).

TBR View: Arsenal should welcome chance to offload Sokratis

Sokratis looks to have almost no chance of featuring for the Gunners before the end of the year. And in truth, it does not feel that there has been a real desire amongst the fans to see him recalled in January.

So it makes sense to let him go next month if the chance is presented to them. Spotrac shows that he earns £92,000-a-week at the Emirates. So it is costing the club a lot to keep him.

It does appear that he is not Juventus’s priority target. But given that he will surely not command a significant transfer fee, you can see why the former Serie A defender may appeal amongst the other names.