Shkodran Mustafi improvement this year has been recognised
Shkodran Mustafi’s revival has been a major success story in the reign of Mikel Arteta and it seems his improvement hasn’t gone unnoticed by observers on the outside too.
The German started this season surplus to requirements and he was only given a squad number because Arsenal could not find a buyer for him.
However, when Arteta took over in December, he was given a clean slate and he has taken his second chance at a career at Arsenal.
He has played five league games for Arsenal in this new year and he hasn’t lost any of those matches.
Two of those games have ended in wins for them while they have drawn the others, conceding five goals and keeping two clean sheets in the process.
He has now been recognized by Whoscored as cited by the Express. The London based website has named the best players in a starting XI for 2020 and Mustafi features as the defensive partner of Virgil van Dijk.
Surprisingly, Mustafi ranks higher than the Liverpool defender who is the current PFA Player of the Year as well as the best defender in Europe.
Mustafi has an overall rating of 7.50 in their ranking, 0.2 points higher than the Liverpool defender who is rated at 7.48 for his performances in 2020 as Liverpool have been struggling to shut teams out.