Arsenal are expected to bid around €35m to bring Shkrodan Mustafi to North London from La Liga.
The German defender is widely accepted to be the club’s primary target as Arsene Wenger looks for defensive reinforcement in the wake of injuries to Per Mertesacker and Gabriel.
Valencia’s financial situation pretty much dictates that they need to sell to meet FFP requirements, and the money on offer from Arsenal would go a long way to helping that even if it does leave them short defensively.
There’s very little chance a deal will be done in time for the player to be involved against Liverpool on Sunday, but he should be brought in time to face champions Leicester next weekend.
For some more info on Mustafi and the kind of player he is, check out the Tweet below:
https://twitter.com/ScoutedFootball/status/760908471458029568
In the meantime, Wenger has to decide whether or not to bring back Laurent Koscielny early to cope with the defensive crisis. It’s thought he’s considering moving Nacho Monreal to centre-half with Kieran Gibbs moving to left back.
We’ll find out more at his first press conference of the season on Friday.
No Poo meter for this one? 🙂
First thing I was looking for in the page.
Constipation with this one now
Please, God!
Please Bergkamp
Please, welsh-jesus
Hope He come as soon as possible to enable us concentrate on signing that world class striker we all are craving for
Or Mahrez..
Get him in asap! That scouting profile makes him sound like quite the player too. Hope it’s true!
Why wouldn’t it be?
I think this one will stick, I also firmly believe we will clinch RM deal..although not sure about buying central striker unless we sell, because we will overshoot our budget that way.
The most logical thing would be to offload Walcott to help fund a signing in all three positions, but we all know that’s easier said than done; who exactly would match his current wages is anyone’s guess. And agree on the RM thing too. Despite word from Leicester today saying they “expect” him to stay this season, it does seem to have a hint of the Nasri 2011 saga about it. Every chance I’m wrong, but fuck it, I hope I’m right.
True, but the need for striker in case of signing RM will not be that significant, he is a 17 goal a season player, so we can easily operate with Giroud, Walcott and Alexis in case the need arises.
However, if we managed to offload Walcott then we can get striker, but that is (as Sean above) mentioned is unlikely to happen.
This one definitely has real legs and I can see it being done by the close of this week, but looks short for Liverpool. Good that we are buying an option both for the present and future, at 24 he’s a perfect age!
Oh really you think it has legs but will be short for liverpool? fascinating insight you have, if only this info was in the article….
Wow, some scout report. If that is true we are in for a hell of a treat! I love Kos with all my heart, however he’s the sort of defender who needs somebody next to him to organise, Kos needs to focus on himself. Mustafi sounds like the man! Get him in! He and Xhaka in the spine of the team, as leaders, should make such a difference to the mentality of the team. In fact, when you look at the spine of the team now, it oozes experience and composure, which is absolutely bang on what we need. Colour… Read more »
So let me get this straight. Up until Gabriel got banjaxed Skodran was going for £20milion suddenly Now though he is worth £30million.
Sir Wenger keep the late Late deals coming up. Your losing all your precious money but we don’t care.
That’s one way of looking at it. On the other hand, if Valencia are in negotiations with Arsenal, given, as the article states, he wouldn’t be involved this weekend, we might get the better price if Valencia think we might walk away from the deal leaving them no time to find another buyer … In the same vein, I think it is naive to think someone(anyone) can just walk on and play, especially at the back, without learning our system. Remember Nachos first games!? Scary stuff. Nacho was a seasoned professional and is a very intelligent player and he needed… Read more »
This is most certainly an Arsenal kind of purchase. Young, solid, underrated and more importantly going for cheap.
Cheap?
Suddenly our defensive crisis doesn’t seem so bad – stumble through Liverpool with Monreal and Chambers in CB, then play Kos and MustafI together for the season with Xhaka/Coq/Elneny shielding.
Is this optimism I feel?
Careful!
Mustafi needs time to adjust to the league and Arsenal teammates. For Leceister I would prefer Kos and Chambers, Mustafi on the bench. Would look to play him afterwards.
“Optimism” with Wenger in charge??? ???
Well I guess it’s all relative??
You’ll find that most fans try to find positives as we enter a new season, it’s what being a supporter is about: supporting.
And we make do with 20 goals from Giroud and about 10 total from whatever combination of Ox, Theo & Campbell plays RW again? No title for us again then…. We need at least 15 goals from RW and 30 up top to win this league
Alexis?
Should be good for a few, at least..
And honestly last season was far thinner from the other expected contributors than we would, urm, expect.
But yes we need a striker / scoring winger.
As long as Chambers doesn’t start against Liverpool, I’m happy. I still have nightmares about Benteke walking all over him last August.
Stop this Walcott nonsense he is far to good to sell as it would come back to haunt us.Theo is far better than the OX,Giroud or Campbell.If you have to sell anyone get rid of Wilshire as Father Christmas plays more in red and white than he does
Who’s Wilshire?
That Father Christmas bit at the end tho…well played ( even though I disagree)
Does anyone know how good this guy is? I mean Valencia were woeful. What’s the deal? Anyone got any good quotes from Valencia fans saying hey hope he stays?
Wasn’t that impressed from what I saw at the euros, but not enough to really judge him. Just hope we’re not going for him more because of Valencia’s financial situation than him being our first choice for ability
He only played in the first game against Ukraine and scored in that game.
True but defensively he looked poor and was regularly caught out of position especially on the counter
Wouldn’t give as glowing a recommendation as the scouting report seems to suggest but I do quite like him. If anything, his distribution needs work and he needs to clam it a little under pressure. That said, he’s quite excellent in 1on1s and indeed a threat at the other end. For reference I’d recommend Valencia’s 2-1 victory over Real Madrid in early 2015 where they played 3vs3 against the BBC and defended superbly. Overall a very good allround player that has played in four different footballing cultures already. Wouldn’t like to see him play out wide though.
Laughable that if the quoted price is accurate he’ll be roughly £20m cheaper than John Stones. People think foreign buys are what’s hindering young British talent, and they’re right to an extent, but when you look at this as an example buying abroad is an absolute no-brainer
Maths is obviously not your forte.
35 x 0.86 = 30.1
£30.1m is high much he will cost
I could well be wrong but I’m not sure you read what I said
Obviously reading’s not yours. I think you’d agree that £30.1m is ROUGHLY, admittedly not exactly, £20m less than the £47.5m city paid for Stones
Reading is obviously not his forte.
Sums* up the problem with how* arsenal fans are nicely
Great point. Interesting to see how Brexit will change things.
Get him in….if the other team can’t score they won’t win….next window we get a stricker if we still need one…..Wenger knows.
Please actually happen
I have found my cheque book! Only the small matter of my signature and we are done
Underneath all the cobwebs in the shoe cupboard under the stairs I assume?
No Mustafi-m puns yet?
*gets coat*
Finally.. Hoped this deal would go through like 2 weeks ago but I guess it’s better late than never. He is typical AW signing in that he is young and has potential to improve.
If we can get through opening fixtures with reasonable results and sign 1 more attacking option then we are finally ready for the season.
I don’t even know how good this player is but the idea of Kroenke, Gazidis and Wenger having to lose all that cash out of their bonus is a beautiful thought 🙂
Dare I say this, but I think this is more important than the striker
It wasn’t until 2 of our CBs got injured…
I actually believe this one. Ornstein, the mouthpiece of Arsenal, has said we are interested and negotiating. So it’s pretty much done.
FFP regulations? Is that still an actual thing?
They only use it to punish the clubs that don’t have any money now I think
Anonymarse deserves more thumbs up.
Made me chuckle, sad, because it’s true.
FFP dictates that it’s only fair for some Arsenal bids to actually be accepted.
Spanish FA rules, not the semi-existent FIFA rules
Sounds like just what we need.
Having a top class defence to go with our top class midfield would certainly help.
You all know he’s not very good right?
Sounds good on paper
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/10516398/shkodran-mustafi-how-would-he-fit-in-at-arsenal
That sky report is very similar to what we saw about Gabriel. You have to remember the context of La Liga. Interceptions are going to be higher because the ball is passed more, and aerial duals should be easier to win as the mean height of attacking players is lower.
Difference here is, I’ve seen Mustafi at La Liga and International level and he’s very convincing. Would like it very much if we pull this off.
German international CB at 24 –> Not very good
Ok.
I love passive-agressive…:-))
Mustafi we’re willing to pay, that’s all I can say. #HereAllWeek
Must have him
So, he’s someone we have been interested in all summer and Valencia have always needed the money. Why the fucking fuck had it taken us to the brink of the new season starting for arsene to get his sodding chequebook out – if indeed that is what he’s doing? Did we not want to pay his wages over the summer?
It wasn’t quite this urgent until Per and Gabriel got little bit injured.
Going for a 1 on poop meter. First wipe clean as well.
Please let’s get this done!
What does everyone make of the Telegraph’s piece about Arsene Wenger only wanting to sign a forward like Griezzman or Lewandowski?
It seems like that would be a very complicated merry go round, involving Atletico wanting to get Costa back, Chelsea then potentially buying Morata, Real then buying Lewandowski and then us buying Griezzman!
Or maybe there’s a good reason I’m not a real football manager…Please Arsene end my transfer window delusions!
There was word that Chelsea was also interested, no? Don’t love hearing that.
They have a new manager to adapt to, finished mid table, no CL, and they have to wheel their racist captain onto the pitch. No comparison unless it’s all about the money.
Definitely do not off load Walcott he is focuses and charged for this season.
Gibbs is a decent left back and we should use one of our most consistent performers (Montreal) in centre back.
Long term Mustafi is not our man we need a unit like Mertesaker / Adams type to compliment koscienly. Williams please.
I pooped a 3 on the meter for Mustafi when the first story was posted. I’ll feel proud of myself if we sign him because the average was 5 or 6 poops.
hope we sign defender soon
Had the bud been TABLED? Or are we just POISED to SWOOP?
Maybe we are preparing to make an offer, like we need to do a warm up first and buy a Park first to stretch our muscles or a but of yoga?
I think you should remove the bud from the table as its affecting your abilly to make sense.
With respect to Valencia’s financial position hadn’t they just banked north of €50m from selling that Portuguese midfielder? They’d surely accumulated most of their debt back in somewhat more reasonable times? Kinda like a reverse Arsenal who built up a large cash balance and then got poned as the new PLA deal means 30m is the new 10m
Montreal is not a good centre back, Gibbs is not a good left back. Just play the Kosc, he’ll get through it. Hopefully
Not too worried about starting Chambers and Monreal. Both are good on the ball and pretty quick (for centre backs) which is important against Liverpools high press. And Chambers could possibly finally get a run in the first eleven.
Pls Wenger, I beg you in the name of whatever you believe in. Get this done.
So it takes Everton 5 minutes to sign Ashley Williams for £12 million and we’ve spent the whole window either not wanting a CB (even though it’s clear we needed one) or negotiating. The Club isn’t being run correctly.
Comment: oh finally Ozil will get a new mate in the locker room as flamini is going!