Arsenal loanee Konstantinos Mavropanos will join Stuttgart on a permanent basis in a £4.5 million transfer this summer. The Greek defender has spent the last two seasons with the Bundesliga club, who clinched their place in the top division with a stunning last-gasp victory over Cologne.
The 24-year-old’s transfer to the Mercedes-Benz Arena was contingent on Pellegrino Matarazzo remaining in Germany’s top flight.
However, while the obligation to buy was written into the loan contract provided Stuttgart maintained their Bundesliga position, the German club had already told Arsenal weeks ago that they wanted to finalize a permanent transfer regardless of where they finished.
Stuttgart, which paid a £500,000 loan fee to recruit Mavropanos, will now pay another £3 million in addition to bonuses worth up to £1.5 million, according to the press article released
The cost is regarded as modest because the Greece international has drawn a lot of attention since going to Germany, with Borussia Dortmund and West Ham apparently keeping tabs on him.
The £4.5 million will be paid to Arsenal upfront, according to the same source, giving the Gunners a small boost ahead of what is expected to be another hectic transfer window in north London. Mavropanos joined Arsenal from PAS Giannina in his native Greece in January 2018, becoming one of the club’s first acquisitions under former head of recruitment Sven Mislintat.
Despite impressing Arsene Wenger at first-most notably in a 3-2 loss at Manchester United in April 2018-Mavropanos struggled for game time at Arsenal, mainly owing to injury.
After only nine appearances for Arsenal, he spent the second half of the 2019-20 season on loan with Nurnberg in the 2. Bundesliga, before joining Stuttgart in the summer of 2020.
He performed admirably throughout his two-year loan stay, appearing in 55 games and scoring five goals. With his future clearly set in Stuttgart, Arsenal’s defensive attention will now go to William Saliba, who was crowned Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year during a loan spell at Marseille.
The Frenchman, who joined Arsenal for £27 million from Saint-Etienne in 2019, is yet to feature competitively for the Gunners and only has two years left on his contract. Marseille has expressed interest in keeping the 21-year-old, and Atletico Madrid is reportedly one of several elite clubs interested in him.
