Arsenal are supposedly looking to offload Shkodran Mustafi this summer, but that would be a mistake.
Again, this might be another controversial article because a lot of fans are split on their opinion of the German, but with reports coming out of The Sun over the past day or so suggesting that he is looking to leave the club before the close of window on the fifth October as he is not in “Arteta’s plans”. I for one hope this one is just a rubbish rumour!
He is still working to get back to fitness after his latest injury setback, and after Rob Holding, in my eyes, had a 50/50 performance last night I do think that Mustafi adds something more to the back line.
Yes, he is prone to mistakes, we have established that, but he began to have a good run in the team under Arteta and he was unfortunate to get an injury just before the run out in the FA Cup.
Even if Arteta does not use him every single game, he would be a very good back up player to have on the bench, although given our defenders, he deserves to get his place back when he is up to full fitness.
Under Arteta he has improved on his understanding of the game and shows he can fit the philosophy.
One thing we have learned is that any rumour they can create to do with Arsenal, they do, maybe they enjoy the fact that it could unsettle the players and the club or maybe they just get some sense of joy out of creating them, but 80% of the time, they are just that, RUMOURS!
Until Arteta himself comes out and says Mustafi is leaving and not in his plans, I think it is safe to say that he is still our player.
Let’s put it this way, there are a few players that do need to leave but Mustafi is NOT one of them!
Am I alone in thinking Mustafi is better than some of our other options?
Shenel
It’s the last year of his contract tho, and he’s certainly not getting an extension. This is 100% the time to sell. And considering we still have Sokratis who may not be leaving, and Chambers who is also returning to full fitness along with Mari, we have enough backup options that it is better to take the money on this guy. Plus we are still molding Saliba and he will be expected to get gametime. A few good months of not being horrible doesnt convince me he’s not still very error-prone and not good enough.
This article misses the point completely. We are not trying to sell Mustafi because he hasn’t improved under Arteta or because Holding is better. We are trying to sell him to raise funds to fix other areas in need. Our need to massively improve the midfield vastly outweighs our need to have Mustafi in the squad. To improve our midfield we need money from sales, therefore it makes sense to sell Mustafi. Holding is younger and has the bonus of being a ‘homegrown’ player so you can see why we will keep him over Mustafi.
Simply, if selling Mustafi means we have more of a chance of signing Auoar and Partey, then it is a no brainer.
Why must arsenal sell before they buy? What many of business is this? A club owned by a a billionaire has to sell before buying? Shameful!!
We have too many players so need to sell, not because of the dire need of finances.
Our billionaire owner is a tight wad. He might as well not be there when we have well paid players to take a paycut and loyal fans ready to spend their meagre earnings on merchandise and game tickets once the go ahead is given.
We aren’t in it together. Mr tight wad also has to be paid a consultancy fee for well just taking us down the pisshole.
You have made my point perfectly my dear may be the Americans are just playing a political game of trying to bring this english team down to its knees.
Well it’s pretty simple the direction
this one will go, regardless of how
SM is valued by MA
If AFC are serious about making a
late push for HA and TP and Lazio
submit a fair bid for the German,
Edu and MA will move him on to
Siere A in a New YORK minute.
Fair or not, the club doesnt need
both Mari and Mustafi and with
the Spaniards permanent move
having been confirmed in this
window it seems the former
Valencia man is the more likely
to be sold.
I will always appreciate the passion
and professionalism SM ALWAYS
exhibited while @ the club and
wish him success if he does in fact
move on.
I agree mustafi is better than half of our defender, he just lacks confidence. Why gruise is why arsenal has to always sell before buying? What manner of mentality is this.. Even Everton and other mid table clubs don’t do like this? Must we always penny pench?
By my count Arsenal currently have
32 players on the first team roster.
I think Edu and MA are serious
about adding both HA & TP to the
mix but there are numbers and
quotas that the club have to adhere
to going forward in the EPL and
Europe. Ideally they would
loved to have already moved on
the likes of Torreria, Socratis, Kola,
Mustafi and Ozil but finding
interested suitors in average players
has been predictably difficult.
Hopefully the positive news on
Mustafi, Kola and Torreria will
result in AFC taking that next BIG
step before the window closes.
Hi pals,just got news that Aouar is in London for medical and Niles 80% moving to Manchester united,anyone see this coming?
OL showed him in training an hour ago so highly doubt he’s in London. AMN to United doesn’t sound like it makes sense. Probably just paper talk. Are these sources reliable or Twitter ITKs?
That you Kev?
A source would be helpful
Source-(Caughtoffside) go see for yourself, its still there,it says aouar will be announced on Friday..
Posted by Mark Brus – he used to write on here.
Watch this space, hey?!!
So the next question is, “how reliable or credible is the information on Caughtoffside”?
AMN to the Manure? Pull the other one!! 🙂
TBH I don’t like the way our transfers are being held and I’m starting to lose it on kroenke already,he isn’t helping matters at all,splash the cash and get the players,look at other clubs strengthening their teams it shows this season ain’t gonna be easy,if teams like Leeds are winning and Fulham are signing,wsetbrom signing ,villa just got Barkley,take a look at Everton with a very fine form what’s why can’t we just sign PT and AOUAR if thats all it requires to strengthen the team,we are always being left behind in all transfer windows like snail,I’m losing it already!!
Ainsley to the mancs?!! Where the hell did that come from? 😳
It says,Niles and torreira would be sold to fund aouar,I just don’t don’t understand why Niles is being sold either,kinda confused..
You’re not the only one who’s confused 😂 This window messes with ya!!
When he was good? He was very good.
When he was bad? He personally gifted enough points costing the club a CL place 2 years running.
Had he left 3 years ago? AFC would have made enough funds from CL appearances– to not need to sell anyone now.
Please show him the door. I’ll call for Uber.
Are you serious or are starting to lose it? If not now, when are we going to move on these fringe players. Very backward thinking. Yes, Mustafi have improved under Arteta, but, he is still prone to silly errors. Besides, he is already 28 years old and the funds are needed to strengthen the midfield with Aouar.
@Simon
It’s pretty simple why we have to sell to buy.
We have 33 first team squad players
19 are non homegrown ( allowed 17 i think its is)
FFP, You can only spend what you make, this is to stop clubs going into so much debt they can’t sustain.
Our self sustainable business model.
18m per year for a player that we cant get rid of ( atleast till the end of the season )
Covid-19. we fill the Emirates every home game and we haven’t had fans in the stadium now since /march.
Failure to qualify for the UCL – we have a UCL wage structure with no UCL football for years
Does this answer why???
Nope.. Arsenal always penny pench.. Why?
I love Mustaphi. He will surprise everyone. He improved greatly last season and was on the up. We need more not less this season. Give him a new contact as we know the big Brazilian will leave next summer and Mustaphi becomes our most experienced player.
What most of you dont understand is that Arteta now rates Mustafi cos he understands his system and in that system a left footed defender and right footed defenders are needed for effective functioning of the system and as of now only Mustafi, Rob Holding and maybe Chambers are the right footed defenders we have that can play Arteta ball, Saliba has not been tested yet. This was why Gabriel was benched for Luiz and Rob Holding at the Liverpool Match.
Arteta only demanded for left footed defenders in Mari and Gabriel bcos he knew that he is Covered at the Right footed defenders of Which Luiz, Mustafi and Rob Holding are his preference respectively. Bearing that Luiz only one year extention and wont renew next year and Mustafi has two which this year will still be use to access him in the system, he will probably stay as Chambers and Sokratis are up for sale.
Arsenal after the window? My hopes
Leno
Bellerin Saliba Gabriel Tierney
Ceballos Partey Aouar
Pepe Aubameyang Zaha
Cup side
Runarsson
Holding Luiz Mari
Mait-Niles Xhaka Chambers Saka
Willian Nketiah Martinelli
Squadmen: Iliev, Soares, Ballard, Elneny, Balogun
Loaned out
Ozil, Torreira, Guendozi, Willock, Nelson, Smith-Rowe
Sold
Macey, Mustafi, Sokratis, Kolasinac, Lacazette
The fact that we have been trying to sell him for two seasons, without success, indicates that he is not highly thought of .Need I say more.
In my opinion there’s too much sentiment in this article. He’s been here 3 seasons and this is his fourth, i think. He failed to impress and quite frankly his ‘improvement’ under Arteta is commendable but not good enough.
Enough of this sentiment s**t. That’s why we’ll never progress. Keeping players who failed before. Einstein said it – “insanity….. doing the same thing and expecting a different result”.
Mustafi out.
Pepe needs to pull his socks or he risks becoming a flop. And don’t give me none of this ‘oh … he’s played under 3 different managers’ crap. Aubameyang not only came to the league half way through the season and hit the ground running but he has played under 4 different managers and is still hitting it.
Class players are those that come into the EPL and hit it running – Auba, Bruno Fernandes, Thiago Alcantara, James Rodriguez.
I mean Gabriel is hitting the ground running with average central defense partners and no DM to cover for the defense. Pepe had the luxury of playing alongside Auba, Lacazette and Ozil (before exile) but still couldn’t deliver to justify his price tag and hype.
I miss the days when we would buy players like Nasri, Rosicky, Cazorla, Eduardo even Ozil mind you say who came in and hit the ground running.
These are professional footballers FFS. What’s with this ‘time to adapt’ s**t? Does an accountant switch companies and be like ‘i need one year to adapt’?
Arsenal’s culture is pissing me off. Wish we had the lady from Chelsea who’s in charge of transfers.
😡😡😡😡😡
👏👏nice one @gunnersince2004
Hleb!!!