Shkodran Mustafi has revealed that he doesn’t know what the future holds for him, but now is not the time to think about it amidst the current climate.
COVID-19 has put a stop to football almost all football across the globe, with mass gatherings banned in most countries battling to control numbers of cases of the Coronavirus.
Olympiacos and Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was the first high-profile name amongst the European football world to be confirmed with the virus, shortly followed by Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and then Chelsea star Calum Hudson-Odoi, which all but forced the FA to take the drastic measure of suspending the league, a decision which was ahead of any sanctions put in place by the government.
This has left the world with a huge amount of question marks, and player contracts and loan deals could have a huge bearing on how the current playing campaigns are played out, or possibly not in that case.
One player who is putting the priority of the current world climate over his own personal playing situation is Shkodran Mustafi, who would is nearing the final year of his current deal.
‘We are in a situation where everyone is worried about the current situation and not so much about their personal future,’ Mustafi told Sky Deutschland.
‘It is difficult to think about my personal future.
‘None of us know what will happen next and when we can play again. So, once we have overcome this difficult time and are back on the pitch, I can think about questions like that.
‘At the moment I don’t think about it. ‘Also the club has more important stuff to deal with right now than my future.’
Once the virus has passed over, will a number of players have to think differently about playing in countries without their families? Will Mustafi likely leave should there be a normal transfer period this summer?
Patrick
This situation is bound to drastically change players attitudes, as well as everyones elses too, to many life matters and also their own career. At such a time we all need to be with our loved ones and any players who are separated from theirs will be unhappy and desperate to rejoin. Most long term foreign players will already be living with loved ones but the younger ones, presumably unmarried as yet, such as Saka., Martinelli, will be bound to be homesick and that has major ramifications for all us Gooners.
No one can accurately forecast all the many and huge changes that football will go through but it is a stone cold certainty that the game as currently administered and supported, also the players, will not be the same once it restarts. Get used to it Gooners, as life itself, not just Arsenal matters, will be much different from now on. Expect the unexpected and be prepared! Thus, this article is a timely and well written warning to us all.