Thursday was a good day for Real Betis. They defeated Aris Limassol to go top of their Europa League group, and within minutes of that match concluding, they announced the arrival of Sokratis Papastathopoulos, who joins the club until the end of the season.
Sokratis’ signing was an important one for Betis, who previously had just German Pezzella and Chadi Riad as natural options in central defence. Head coach Manuel Pellegrini is pleased to have the Greek international at the club, although he revealed that he won’t play against Osasuna on Sunday, as per Marca.
“Sokratis is a player with a lot of experience. He makes up for an important loss that we had with Bartra’s injury and the departure of Luiz Felipe. He’s just training with us for now, so he’s not in tomorrow’s squad.
“He’s probably not ready to play 90 minutes in a row at the moment, but he’s been working on a personal basis. Both his weight and his fat percentage are within the normal range, so I think in a week he’ll be fit to be called up.”
Real Betis will hope that Sokratis proves to be a valuable addition, as Los Verdiblancos look to be successful in La Liga and the Europa League this season.
