Sokratis Papastathopoulos knows exactly what Konstantinos Mavropanos is going through.
Our new centre back left his native Greece at the age of 20 to sign for Genoa in Italy and, having seen his compatriot do the same when he joined us in January, he is happy to offer him the benefit of his years of experience.
“I think this is my work and the work of the other guys with experience, to help the young guys,” Sokratis told Arsenal Player. “From the first day, I will do everything so that the young guys feel like they have been here for a lot of years.
“[Dinos and I] spoke two or three times on the telephone, and also when he came here. I said to him that it’s OK, Arsenal is one of the big teams but he has to be happy and needs to put in a lot of work.
“I also saw some games. He improved a lot and I think that if he improves again in the next year, he can be one of the best defenders.
“The first year is difficult because it also depends if you speak the language or not. Now I’m here I also have to help him to be more calm, more easy, more friendly here with the other guys. I think we can have one good relationship together, we can be friends.”
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