Stuttgart set to sell defender - how good is new West Ham signing Konstantinos Mavropanos?

West Ham have continued their efforts to rebuild their squad and avoid relegation from the Premier League this season with the imminent arrival of Stuttgart defender Konstantinos Mavropanos. According to the Daily Mail, the Greek international will make the move to the English top-flight in a deal worth around €21 million for the Bundesliga club, with 10 percent of that fee owed to the defender’s previous club Arsenal. 

Mavropanos joins David Moyes’ side as their third major signing of the summer transfer window, following the arrival of Ajax midfielder Edson Álvarez and Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse. The club’s spending on new players in this window is now set to hit around €94m, but remains outweighed by the €156m that West Ham have made from the sale of Nikola Vlasic, Gianluca Scamacca and Declan Rice. 

After joining Arsenal in 2018 as a young prospect, Mavropanos has spent most of his career playing in German football. Following a loan spell at Nuremberg, the player then went on a second loan spell to Germany with Stuttgart, who eventually signed him on a permanent deal for €3.2m in the summer of 2022. And since then the 25-year-old defender has gone from strength to strength with the Bundesliga side. 

Last season Mavropanos was a leading central defender in a number of metrics across the Bundesliga. For example, according to Opta the Greek talent was first among Bundesliga defenders for interceptions, third for blocked shots, eighth for ground duels won and eleventh for aerial duels won. The new West Ham signing is also particularly talented with the ball at his feet and was second only to fellow Stuttgart player Hiroki Ito among the league’s central defenders for key passes created in the Bundesliga last season.

As such, Moyes’ side may be picking up an impressive defender who not only thrives in the more traditional sense of defending but also has the technical ability to thrive in the Premier League too. Whether he can break into the club’s starting XI immediately or may need time to adapt remains to be seen, but for €21m it seems as though West Ham may have picked up a smart signing.