There are three or four Arsenal players that have been consistently lambasted by Arsenal fans, pundits, blogs and former players but one, in particular, seems to attract more criticism than any other player and that is defender Shkodran Mustafi.
So it will no doubt be music to the ears of his detractors that Unai Emery is lining up a move for Espanyol centre back Mario Hermoso, according to the latest transfer rumours in the media.
Hermoso is highly rated and only last November was rewarded with a call up to the Spain national squad following a string of quality displays.
The 23-year-old is valued at £18 Million, which is well within our budget, however, there is a complication that could see that price rise.
Hermoso has a buy-back clause in his contract put there by his former club Real Madrid for just £6 Million and there is a school of thought that they will trigger that clause in order to sell him on for an immediate profit.
And if that was not enough, Paris Saint Germain and Bayern Munich are also said to be interested in the signing the player.
So, it will not be easy to land Hermoso but what transfers are these days?
But let’s assume we do sign him, the question I have is will he be an upgrade on Mustafi?
The knee jerk reaction would be to say yes, even a drunk grasshopper would be better than the German defender but that would be ridiculous, Mustafi is not as woeful as he has been made out to be.
Of course, it would be silly to deny he has had a bad season, he has, but he was the best defender for our last few games and is not totally useless.
But I have to accept it would be in both the clubs and Mustafi’s best interests if he was to leave, he is 27-year-old and there is no guarantee he will be able to turn his form around and if we are ever going to try and get a decent fee for him it has to be now.
Hermoso is clearly highly regarded with Bayern Munich, PSG and ourselves all interested in signing him and if we can sign him we certainly should.
This video gives you an indication of the sort of player we would be signing.