Kostas Manolas left utterly terrified after being asked to pose with a lion for transfer unveiling

He may have been introduced as a 'Greek warrior' during his signing announcement with new club Sharjah FC, but defender Kostas Manolas was left terrified after posing alongside a lion.

The 31-year-old centre-back has penned a two-year deal with UAE Pro League side Sharjah after leaving Olympiakos.

Manolas, who has made 42 appearances for his country, only joined the Greek club in January after spending eight successful years in Serie A with Napoli and AS Roma.

He will play alongside ex-teammate Miralem Pjanic and former Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona forward Paco Alcacer at the UAE club.

Ahead of this month's official transfer announcement, meanwhile, those behind the scenes at Sharjah wanted to welcome Manolas with an extravagant social media presentation, featuring a real life lion.

As you can see in the footage below, the Greek defender was posing with his knees on the ground before said lion let out an almighty roar.

Manolas, clearly freaked out by the animal, quickly got to his feet and stumbled away from the scene – although those yellow 'caution' signs didn't exactly help.

Here's how social media reacted to the scene.

One fan commented: "Luckily there were those DO NOT PASS tapes, which we all know are the weak point of the lion," while another said: "Love how he puts the tape between him and the lion. Because that will deter it."

A third wrote: "Bro saw his life flash in front of his eyes. I just want to play football."

Earlier this month, new Wolves forward Diego Costa admitted his transfer announcement video involving three real life wolves left him feeling a tad uncomfortable.

“I was scared to death," he said. "Holding that chain I kept thinking, ‘What if this wolf thinks about jumping on top of me?’ and then the three of them did.

"Because the lady training them kept calling them, asked them to move around a little and the dog, the wolves didn’t do a single thing. And I thought, ‘If they’re not doing anything with the trainer, if they come’...when they came and smelled my foot, I knew I was done for.

“I was a little scared then. Those were wolves, not dogs. It was a cool experience but not a very comfortable one. I have five dogs, but they’re not wolves!”

Have these unveiling videos for social media gone too far now?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.