AC Milan are believed to be interested in signing Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi this summer, which will come as music to most Gunners’ ears.
The German international has been blamed for a number of errors in recent seasons, and come under intense scrutiny from pundits and fans alike, and is no longer a regular starter in north London.
The 27 year-old has fallen from grace since winning the World Cup with his homeland back in 2014, and although his performances have improved (much like the rest of the squad) under Mikel Arteta, he is still believed to be surplus to requirements at the Emirates.
William Saliba is already scheduled to come in this summer, having been signed last summer and allowed to stay with former club St Etienne for the current campaign, adding to the list of rivals for a first-team role, while deals for Pablo Mari (currently on loan from Flamengo) and other centre-backs are also linked.
Mustafi only has a year remaining on his contract, and could decide to try and stay and fight for a role under Arteta, but it certainly looks as if he would be fighting a losing battle, and should AC Milan follow up their supposed interest he should be willing to move on.
The Italian’s are claimed to have been interested in such a move in January, and could return for the out of favour defender.
We currently have a number of options at centre-back, and with only a year on his contract, we should most certainly be looking to cash-in, as I would be very surprised if we would offer him a new deal in the future.
How much would be a fair fee for the German international? Would we be lucky to receive a third of our £35 Million purchase back?
Patrick
Italian football is probably finished for the season and all clubs including AC Milan have lost mega millions.
Even Aubameyang will be hard to sell.
Stevo is right that sheer lack of money in football worldwide will force a complete chnage on all incoming and outgoing transfer planning. I am far more pessimistic than are many -though I call it realism, as ever- when I forecast a far longer delay until football restarts. The corporate financial hit will be much larger than most think possible and Sky and BT Sports will not wait for ever before blocking further payments and even demanding,or at least negotiating, the return of money already paid and spent(largely on the mass greed of players). The amount of further delay will be the most decisive factor.
As for Auba, if he fondly imagines that ANY club, be that Real, Barca, Man Utd or any other club will agree to pay him £300k pw he is in cloud cuckoo land. And not Arsenal either!. I am certain he is not that naive and his agent will be sure not to be naive anyway.
As I say, the final and decisive factor will be how long the delay carries on but there must be a chance that he will agree to stay and even sign a new contract for a smaller wage than at present , when his existing one expires. I am convinced he WANTS to leave us but what he – and others too – want, and what they GET, will be completely different matters. A new and welcome wage reality is just around the corner and some will see it coming, others will not.