Arsenal have announced that Greek defender Konstantinos Mavropanos has re-joined German side, VfB Stuttgart on loan with an option to buy believed to be in the £5m region. The move sees Mavropanos, who joined Arsenal in January 2017, rejoin former Arsenal Head of Recruitment Sven Mislintat, who championed the Greek youngster’s signing for the club four years ago.

Mavropanos has endured something of a slothful time at the club. Initially signed as “one of the future” under Mislintat’s guidance, he soon blew Arsène Wenger away in training, who was so impressed with Mavropanos, that he refused to send him out on loan.

Since then, things have not looked all that promising for the youngster. Since joining from PAS Giannina, Mavropanos has made only 8 apperances in all competitions for the club in four years. Following a fairly uninspiring period under Unai Emery, Arsenal felt the youngster’s future was better served with a loan deal.

Mavropanos was subsequently loaned to 2. Bundesliga side, Nürnberg, where he played 12 games overall. Though his time was somewhat marred by injuries, there was a still a decent player to be seen when he was able to get on the pitch and it was for that reason that Arsenal extended Mavropanos’ deal before he left last summer to join VfB Stuttgart on loan.

Mavropanos’ loan spell at Stuttgart showed his maturity as a player and how much he can be of benefit to a team. But as with so many young players, Mavropanos’ time in football has been marred with injuries.

His time at Arsenal seems to have been cut short because of said injuries and Mikel Arteta clearly doesn’t seem to see as much of the good sides of the player as others do and with Rob Holding and William Saliba both looking likely to contend for the starting spot next year, not to mention the club’s vested interest in Brighton defender Ben White, Mavropanos would likely struggle for much game time.

It’s a shame to see a talented youngster leave, but it seems to be for the best. Mavropanos never fully settled at the club and there are likely other defenders that will be more important to the club in the future. Despite this, everyone obviously hopes that Mavropanos can kick on and show the world just how good he really is at Stuttgart.