Sokratis Suggests He'll Leave Arsenal This Summer Unless Game Time Improves Under Mikel Arteta
By Ben Carter
Arsenal centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos says he could look to leave the club this summer if he's unhappy with his game time from now until the end of the season.
The Greece international has been playing back-up to David Luiz and Shkodran Mustafi since Mikel Arteta's arrival as manager, although recently Sokratis has been used out of position at right-back to cover injuries elsewhere in the squad.
The 31-year-old still has another year left on his contract at Arsenal, but Sokratis insists he's not prepared to "sit on a contract" just to play a part-time role in the first-team next season.
"I don't know [if I'll leave]," Sokratis said, quoted by Sky Sports. "I have one more year here but me, I never sit on my contract. I don't care. If I'm not happy, I don't play enough or the coach doesn't like me, I don't care about the contract.
"For me the money is not important, it is important I feel good, I feel happy and the team is happy with me. If not, I take the road and I finish.
"I don't think about it, I think every day to be happy and help the team and in the end we will see but what I say is that I am not a player who sits on a contract - I don't need it."
Despite threatening to push for a move away from Arsenal, fans won't be too concerned about Sokratis' immediate future at the club.
Both Luiz and Mustafi have show major improvements under Arteta and are well worth their place in Arsenal's first team, while teenage sensation William Saliba will complete his move to north London at the end of the season.
Loanee Pablo Mari could also join the club on a permanent basis, so Sokratis might be facing the chop by Arsenal's decision-makers regardless of his stance over a move elsewhere this summer.
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