Konstantinos Mavropanos came to Arsenal with a lot of hype. Finally, we all thought we were getting a long term heir to Laurent Koscielny and a young centre back we could all get excited about. The early sign were really good; his first few games at the club showed he was a really promising talent.

But then, some injuries hit and he never really kicked on. He struggled for games under Unai Emery and didn’t even make a single appearance under Arteta. However, this season he has been getting his career back on track, but not at Arsenal.

Mavropanos joined Stuttgart on loan at the start of this season. He struggled with injuries at first, but has since become a mainstay in the German side’s back line. He has helped them to 10th on their return to the league having been promoted from Bundesliga 2 the season before.

The Greek giant will return to Arsenal in the summer, perhaps at the perfect time. Arsenal are not short on centre backs, far from it. However, if David Luiz is to leave on a free, Arteta may find more first team chances for Mavropanos next season. After all, you can never get enough top quality young centre backs. I imagine for the early parts of next season, Arteta will stick with a trusty Gabriel-Holding partnership. However, as the season develops we might start to see Saliba and Mavropanos trusted and relied on more and more.

So what would you do Gooners? Bring him and give him some chances next year, or let Stuttgart make it permanent and cash in?

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons