Arsenal sign Greek defender

Cape Town - Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is close to completing his first purchase of the January transfer with the signing of Konstantinos Mavropanos.

The 20-year-old defender signs from Greek Superleague club PAS Giannina for a reported fee of £1.9m, but will not feature in the first team just yet.

"Yes, but he's not ready to play," Wenger said when asked about the transfer. "He will go out on loan."

Mavropanos will reportedly be shipped off to Werder Bremen for the remainder of the campaign, becoming the latest Greek to join the Bundesliga.

Germany’s top flight is already home to a number of talented Greek defenders, including Sokratis Pastastathopoulos of Borussia Dortmund, Hamburg's Kyriakos Papadopoulos, teenager Panagiotis Retsos of Bayer Leverkusen, and Augsburg’s Kostas Stafylidis.

Mavropanos is also the first new signing since Arsenal replaced long-time chief scout Steve Rowley with Sven Mislintat, who was brought in from Borussia Dortmund.