Chelsea and Arsenal both hopeful of landing Borussia Dortmund defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos this summer
Greek centre-back hinted he wanted to leave the German giants in order to win more trophies at the end of the 2016-17 season
CHELSEA and Arsenal are both hopeful of landing Borussia Dortmund defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos this summer.
Both clubs are desperately hunting for defensive reinforcements in the upcoming transfer window.
Premier League champions Chelsea are looking to replace John Terry and add depth, while the Gunners' defensive ranks were left decimated for much of the 2016-17 season.
Greek defender Papastathopoulos, 29, dropped a huge hint at the end of the 2016-17 season that he wanted to join a huge club, claiming time was running out for him to win a league title.
After the final Bundesliga game of the season, Papastathopoulos said: "If you're young, you have a lot of time to win things.
"But I'm not young any more, time is getting shorter and I really want to win a title."
Papastathopoulos made 26 starts - 41 games in total - in the Bundesliga last season under the now-departed Thomas Tuchel.
However he has grown disillusioned with life at the Westfalenstadion after they finished 18 points behind rivals Bayern Munich in the league standings.
On top of that, Dortmund went in the final game of the season still unsure of their Champions League fate - needing a final-day win in order to reach Europe's elite competition.
They did however get their hands on the DFB-Pokal trophy after beating Eintracht Frankfurt in the final.
Papastathopoulos has also played for Werder Bremen, AC Milan, Genoa and AEK Athens in his long career up to this point.
Meanwhile, Chelsea boss Antonio Conte is still hopeful of landing Virgil van Dijk, after favourites to win the Dutchman's signature Liverpool, pulled out of the race.
