Reports from Turkey suggest that Fenerbahce are interested in signing Shkodran Mustafi this summer.
The German international is up for sale, with David Ornstein revealing last night that Unai Emery is keen to move the player on.
The 27 year old signed for Arsenal at the end of the 2016 transfer window for an eye-watering £35m – at that point a fee which made him one of the most expensive central defenders of all time.
In the three seasons since, he’s become something of a byword for Arsenal’s defensive failings, not least because of a plethora of high profile errors from which he never seems to learn.
The Turkish side’s Sporting Director, Damien Comolli (who was part of Arsene Wenger’s staff some years back), has reportedly contacted Mustafi’s agent to see if the player is open to a move.
We particularly liked this bit from the Google Translated version of the story, “Mustafi’s ability to use both legs and an experienced player to Fenerbahce defense search conditions make the transfer.”
Exactly. He can use both legs. Rather too often to propel himself along the ground on his big slidey arse, but let’s not dwell on that.
There is no chance of recouping what we paid for him, but any inward flow of money can be used to held fund a replacement.
Don’t ask for the Poo-o-Meter on this one. Let’s just hope this one happens because it’s best for all parties if we go our separate ways at this point.
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Hat-tip @OsmanZtheGooner
Typo in the second from last paragraph. “Help” not held.
Cheers
Agree totally, he hasn’t been a success.
My only reservation is that our squad is getting a fair shake-up, with players leaving and (surely) players arriving. We will lose a lot of ‘automatisms’ (per Arsene) and that will be worse the more that leave.
But I’m sure that not many fans would disagree with him leaving if we got a decent transfer fee.
Which automatisms would you wish to keep then?
I’m not sure we are losing anything we’d want to keep here
Presumably automatically sliding on his arse whenever an attack starts
Screw decent fee. Just get him off the books. I’d be happy if they got 3.5 mil for him.
Screw the 3.5 mil and send him for free maybe send elnenny with him !
I really don’t understand all the Elneny bashing of late. He’s not a bad player. He’s just kind of average. He doesn’t make the horrendous mistakes Xhaka makes but just because he doesn’t spray Hollywood balls people say he’s shit.
I wouldn’t be fussed if he left but I’m not clamoring for him to either. We would need to buy a central midfielder before we can really contemplate any leaving, unless Willock has now sufficiently impressed Emery to take his place in the pecking order.
I agree – if he’s happy to continue in the role he has, he’s a good squad player for us to have while we address a giant hole already left in the midfield. I don’t imagine he’s on giant wages, makes no fuss, works hard, does a job when needed. Definition of a dedicated squad man.
As you said, unless Willock has unseated his spot in the order, we’ve got more important changes to make.
I agree 100% on Elneny. His performance doesn’t warrant any ire. Although not a world beater he’s been useful for us.
Elneny is bad because we have him also the ratings for him in the Genie Scout for the Football Manager is not great. Youtube clips are not really great.
See all these factors when you combine for our knowledgeable supporters make him a bad player
We have a like for like replacement coming back in Chambers who can’t be much worse than Mustafi. Starting the season with Holding/Sokratis/Chambers/Koscielny is definitely not ideal, but a better CB stable than if it includes Mustafi.
Emery at cb can’t be much worse than Mustafi…
Chambers is actually a good CB, way better than mustafi, he gets alot of flack because Wenger played him mostly in a back 3, playing him out of position on the wing, where he got destroyed, so it made him look bad but overall he’s a pretty decent CB, so I’m all for mustafi moving whether for free or a small fee…..just leave!
I hope you are right about Chambers, but nothing I have seen makes me think so. Mustafi, as I think everyone ought to acknowledge, is pretty good, even very good, most of the time (that’s why he won the World Cup with Germany, why he brought what was then a huge transfer fee). But he makes enough disastrous mistakes that it is impossible to trust him. Chambers, again as far as I have seen, is never as good as Mustafi at his best–he does not have the pace to defend outside, nor the quickness inside needed against a Prem striker.… Read more »
Haven’t people familiar with Fulham been saying what a solid season he had despite their struggles? I think James or Blogs were saying that. He did make a decent amount of appearances for us and I remember him looking solid at cb. I think that first season we got him from Southampton he went straight in the team at the start I believe? Can’t remember if at RB or cb. Anyway, glad to have him back!
He played CB and indeed looked quite good.
He more often appeared for them in central midfield than defence. If their three coaches last season all thought that mess of a squad contained two better CBs than Chambers then I doubt his value to us.
He did win their player of the season, albeit in a defensive midfield role. I think that warrants giving him another shot at least. Nobody complained when Coquelin came back from Charlton and did a very good job for us. It might even improve his on sell value if he gets through a solid season with Arsenal.
Germany won the World Cup because Mustafi got injured and Löw was forced to make the changes he didn’t really want to do (putting Lahm back at RB rather then playing him in midfield). Seriously Mustafi didn’t contribute a single thing to Germanys World Cup win.
Automatisms couldn’t get us CL football. Sell them all!
one can only hope
can the fans do anything to make this deal a reality?
I always knew Mustafi’s only selling point would be that he has two legs.
The way he’s played at times one would be forgiven for thinking he only had one.
He’s definitely got two, it’s just that they’re both left.
It’s a good start
Not much demand for one legged footballers
He was actually not too bad on pes 2019 ps4.
I offered to drive him to Italy from Baku but that didn’t happen. I’ve pulled a sickie today so I have time to take him to Turkey. Let’s go!
I will pay for the fuel
I will pay for the hotels
I’ll pay for a hitman if the transfer doesn’t happen.
…….aaannddd too far.
Joking about taking away someone’s life is no joke. Its pathetic. Its along the lines of wishing Mustafi (or any player, or person for that matter) would take their life. These players are human beings with hearts and souls and may even read these very comments. You dont k ow what is going on in his life. Life is way too precious to make a mockery of it. Please stop.
“Joking about taking away someone’s life is no joke” is your opinion. I’d suggest that, if you are easily offended by what is clearly banter, you should probably steer clear of these sorts of sites.
If you want to call it banter, then it its unnecessary banter. I really hope you can see that. Joking about ending someone’s life isn’t a joke. Do you call racial slurs banter? In a day in age where we can hide behind a keyboard and not have to see the repercussions of our words (and words do matter), we need to be more diligent then ever about what we say and how we say it. You’ll see young kids taking their lives because of cyber bullying which I’m sure a lot of the kids that are the aggressors are… Read more »
The comment by Gus Caesar isn’t one that I’d make, nor one that I find clever or amusing. However, I am aware that this is a fan blog and attracts a broad church of opinion and characters – and I certainly don’t perceive myself as some sort of ‘moral guardian’ with the right to police anyone. If we extend your view, should all jokes be banned – as they all have a butt to the ‘humour’ who could be offended? My point remains: you are going to get this sort of comment on here. If it offends you, you’re better… Read more »
@AG – well said. 2 thumbs up from me
Is “I’m dying for a pint” acceptable?
This conversation has made me hungry, I’d kill for a burger right now…oh shit!! 🙂
3 mins 30 seconds in…:-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHMoDt3nSHs
Get over yourself, he was making a joke. Some people these days are fucking idiots
Man, you guys are soft. It was a harmless joke on thread of jokes. Grow a pair.
Probably a bunch of jews
Wtf?
Can we agree that racist cuntery has no place anywhere near our football club please? I would like to say it is more suited to other London clubs but apparently there are purveyors of said cuntery locally.
I found the petrol comment extremely offensive.
Selling Mustafi for free is alrd a profit for Arsenal Football Club. ?
I’m so frustrated by this! In every match I’ve seen Mustafi play, he has been excellent for 80% of the time – but not even Sunday league standard for the rest. Quite clearly, he needs coaching from an intelligent, aware, defensive coach. I’m absolutely certain that there’s a very good centre half in there somewhere – you certainly can’t knock his effort, commitment and outlook. Unless we start addressing the problem – rather than the symptoms – I’m entirely certain we could turn Virgil Van Dijk into a fuck-wit!
“you certainly can’t knock his effort, commitment and outlook” – Tapps.
Huh? You mean the guy who blames his screw-ups on other teammates, throws his hands in the air while attackers run past him, and makes some of the most horrendous mistakes I’ve ever seen coming from a center-half in all of my life?
He blames his screw ups on teammates because he doesn’t believe he’s done anything wrong. This would be easily coached out of him by a proper coach. It is sad and surprising that a 27 year old German international centre-half doesn’t know how to defend, but I still believe this is curable. At the very least he doesn’t look like he doesn’t even bother trying (unlike some current squad members). At the end of the day, my point was that you can change the personnel as much as you like – if you don’t change the coaching mentality, it really… Read more »
If that’s your say, then Elneny must be priceless then since he never stop trying and doesnt even whine when been casted to the bench (somethings not even on the bench) for the full season
He needs therapy
Needs to solve his inner child out so he can admit to his issues and start to solve them
You mean 80% of the time he hasn’t done anything stupid surely? I don’t remember a time when he’s been excellent. 80% of the time he goes unnoticed and does his job, 1% of the time he scores good headers and 19% of the time he makes some of the worst decisions I have ever seen by a professional centre back.
He has had a handful of very good games for us. Unfortunately he’s played in the other 107.
Luke, we are not in disagreement regarding how much of a success he has been, and I certainly 100% endorse your position on the 19%. However, my point was that you can put any centre-half you like into a team with no coaching or tactical nous, and it’ll make absolutely zero difference. Mustafi is a symptom and we need to treat the disease.
I don’t think he is as bad as everyone makes out, he makes mistakes but get magnified ten fold by the fans and in turn effects his confidence. I think it’s time for him to move on, even if he starts playing better one little mistake the fans wiil be at him again. He’s a world cup winner and still young we should get at least 15-20m for.
Torreira also cocks up a lot.
Over Xmas, he gave away or was robbed off the ball in critical area 6 or 7 times against West Ham, Soton, BHA, United, Liverpool, 4 of which directly led to goals against.
That cost us the season too.
No, Luke. Eighty percent of the time, or maybe more, he is very good at clearing our lines, especially on high crosses; he anticipates well and steps out to break up attacks; he moves the ball quickly to start the attack; he is excellent on our corners. Which is why, so often, his WhoScored rating is Man of the Match, or close. But then there is a baffling, inexplicable mental error–he lets an opponent run by him as if he didn’t notice, doesn’t jump defending a corner, etc. That’s why Tapps thinks coaching will fix it (and why I used… Read more »
I dont’ know if I can agree that coaching could turn him around that much.
His big mistakes are ones of individual concentration and lack of discipline on the senseless slides taking himself out of the play. Some of that is organization, but a good dose of it is on individual.
Not sure anymore it can be fixed; it appears that Emery agreed with you when he arrived, but no longer does. Probably no choice but to sell him, and of course at a much lower fee than we paid. All the ridiculous comments about how bad he is, when it’s obvious *when you actually watch* that at his best he is as good as elite defenders, don’t help.
Everyone please pray to the gods and a miracle just might happen!
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????
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Fenerbahce will have one hell of a defender in their hands in this deal goes through
We have better options in squad?
Last I check some people celebrated when Mustafi was not involved with Wolves but we still leaked 3 goals with Koscielny and Sokratis.
And trick was repeated in finals against Chelsea.
You gonna shift the blame to midfield now? Granit? Because the solid CM Torreira some like to wank off to did not help either case.
Merry Christmas everybody.
I feel a little bit ashamed of myself for feeling so happy at the thought of this.
Don’t feel ashamed because you are not alone in wanting this to happen…it’s for the good of Arsenal football club
I’m sure we could do a whip-round to cover the cost of a one way ticket to Istanbul if that’s any help.
Hope this deal isn’t scuppered if they find out about Jake the Peg.
In mustafis case, even if a club from Mars shows interest it would get me interested!
“on his big slidey arse”. Come on, aren’t you better than that?
do you read this blog regularly?
I do. Making fun about his “big arse” seems a bit low though. I am not defending Mustafi’s performances (which I agree have been terrible at times). Still, if we sell him to Fener for 10m, everybody celebrates? Why? Financially, this will be one of the worst transfers in the history of this club. The deficit we are going to make would pay for Tierney alone! But that’s not Mustafi’s fault, whoever was responsible for that deal must be called out. And it’s what I would expect from an otherwise very decent blog. But hey, maybe that’s just me.
Have you seen the name of this blog?
I reckon they could get £15m, because without his errors he’s a good player. A bit like Almunia, great GK until he accidentally drops the ball in his own net.
Thank God for a voice of reason! Mustafi is a symptom, and we need to treat the disease.
I think that Fenerbache just troll us every season by being linked with any underperforming / overpaid / injury prone player that we need to move on, then ultimately not signing them. ?
They do get used quite a lot in these kinds of stories when agents are trying to whip up interest. As do we actually!
Maybe him going will see the end of Santori spouting shite too
Afraid not because you need to hear some sense instead of repeating red herrings.
Or are you the sort that looks for faults in certain players then conveniently ignore it in others like say Torreria who gave the ball or was fleeced 6 or 7 times around Xmas leading to 4 goals against us?
You need a reality check mate. Again and again if necessary.;)
Ha! Wishful thinking! It just means he’ll have more time to go on about how mediocre Torreira is.
Correction: how mediocre he THINKS Torreira is…
The original Turkish says that he has two good feet, which considering that he’s six feet tall isn’t really saying much at all. I suppose it depends on which way up he was when they measured him.
Probably lying horizontal next to an advertising hoarding.
The original Turkish states that he has “two left feet” that are “sewn on backwards”.
My only concern is how much of a fee Fenerbache will demand we pay
Just play it cool, don’t let them know we’re desperate, then accept whatever they offer. Half a pack of jamon ruffles will do just fine
I just wish the media would stop distributing rumours of interest and Arsenal started buying and selling some of these players. The new season is only a month away!
He is the only Arsenal player that I’ve ever been mad at due to his durability. He is always available to my dismay!
I strongly suspect that’s because he’s the one player that the opposition are deliberately avoiding damaging, for fear of strengthening us.
Considering how poor we are in terms of availability at the back, he probably saved us points.
He did hold together without Sokratis in defense for a spell. No clean sheets but we won a string of games and hey, even when he was absent, your celebrated pairing of Koscielny and Sokratis still leaked 3 goals to Wolves (and in finals with Chelsea)
Or is that too inconvenient to mention?
What, not even Silvestre?
I always used to grimace every time I saw he was in the team. He was so shit and it just made it worse that he came from United. The worst £500,000 anyone has ever spent.
A Turkish side in for Mustafi? Do they know he’s not David Ospina?
Shhhh! Don’t tell them!
Can we hide Mesut in Mustafi’s luggage? It would be a tadadadadada moment after the arrival at the airport in Turkey: “look who I brought with me! ” ???
No because Mustafi doesn’t hide.
😀
Anyone else want to chip in for his Taxi to the airport?
Hopefully this one happens. I’d rather we promote Chambers. He’s a decent CB and when played in position I can’t recall him doing much wrong.
A back four of Tierney Chambers Holding Bellerin looks pretty good to my mind.
Keep Koscielny and Sokratis as CB cover, Kolasinac in to cover Tierney and Maitland-Niles to cover Bellerin.
Need to also sell on Monreal while we can still get a small fee for him.
What are you smoking?
Looks pretty sensible to me. I’ve always thought Chambers has been deeply underrated by Arsenal fans and management. Did well on loan at Middlesbrough and Fulham, and was our best centre back in the 2017/18 season in his only real extended chance in that position. We will regret letting him go for sure. Probably still have Sokratis ahead of him in the pecking order at the moment though. We should definitely sign Saliba though, even if St Etienne insist he goes back for a year on loan. He looks like an immense talent. If there is an opportunity to sign… Read more »
Why all the hate? What happened to once a gooner always a gooner? I agree that the team could do with a big upgrade in the defensive positions and I think he probably isn’t feeling much love from the fans but good luck to him wherever he goes.
Agreed my man, he isn’t exactly the best defender we have had, but could do well in the right setup. How people seem to be happy to let him go for free is beyond me, glad they aren’t running our negotiations! He is a German international at a good age (27) and under contract. If our transfer team can’t get a half decent fee for him then I haven’t a clue what they are doing. He might be a bit shit for us, but he could certainly revive his confidence and career elsewhere, which should be enough to help move… Read more »
Totally agree we should get between 15-20 mil.
Turkey is always linked with some player of ours. It will take : 1) Fernebache willing to pay the salary Mustafi is on. 2) Mustafi willing to go to lower tier competition in Turkey. He may decide to stay and fight it out as a third or fourth choice preference. Why not? His salary is guaranteed. The other thing to consider is who comes in at Cback. Forget Saliba (that is a joke … that much player for an 18yr old he hardly featured and is going to be loaned back out, considering impact as well on our finite budget)… Read more »
Saliba has the potential to be as good as varane and de light. We have to look to future because where not going to be good for next 3 years at least. I’m all for project youth
varane play an handfull of match for Lens before madrid came for him, so we are going to wait that the price raise or that another club move for him ( then we are clearly fuck as we cannot compete on trasfer market ) Saliba is exactly the sort of player we need to buy, buy a bunch of them and sell one of them in few years to massive profit thats how pool and spurs ( dortmund,sevilla,A.madrid,the portuguese big 3 , Lyon too) done last few years ,that how the club should have been run when we move the… Read more »
Bye.
Again, I think we need to adopt a nuance approach to sales. We need to be flexible. if we want to generate income. At the back, its either Mustafi or Chambers. Either shoild sell for between 18-22m IMO, Chambers on account of local content. It may depend if choices for Cbacks get exhausted and teams then see the extra premium on our players as perhaps more worth it bc of lack of better options (yes as much as some would like to deem Mustafi a calamity, he is still a great option for many teams) Then (in terms of Mustafi’s… Read more »
Can’t understand why people are not understanding your comment. It is totally valid and would be best course of action for us.
I would sell my entire body and just be a brain in a jar for this to happen.
Good news at last!!
And to think we could have sold him to Juventus a couple of years ago. Also, looking at the comments from the article about that it’s funny how opinions have changed:
https://arseblog.news/2017/08/mustafi-set-to-stay-as-inter-and-juventus-moves-fall-through/
Fingers crossed the right offer comes in for him. He’s lost the confidence of the fans and now the manager too. I don’t see any way he’ll come back into favour.
That has severely damaged his salability particularly as he’s also on around £90,000 a week. I think it’s going to be difficult to get rid given he’ll have to take a pay cut.
Great player we really shouldn.t allow to leave..hope this helps the negotiations
If Mustafi could cut out 90% of his brain farts? He’d be one of the best defenders in the league. He’s got real quality, but his erraticism and ability to fall apart at any moment, make him too much of a liability. He’s got 2 years left on his deal, I’d be happy just to take what we can, renew Bielik’s contract, and let him take Mustafi’s place in the squad. I’m not Chambers’s biggest fan, I think he’s better suited to playing for a side who defend deep, the thought of Chambers on the halfway line gives me nightmares,… Read more »
Good shout… Mustafi has games where he is actually super human… top quality… then when you think he is great he gives you a horrible reality check by making the silliest mistake…. knowing our luck we sell him and he steps up a level and turns in to the perfect defender…
The back end of a pantomime horse has 2 legs.
Haha, gold. If I could pin this to the top of the comments, I would.
Sing with me: ” It Mustaf been love, but it’s over now”
That’s gold too, damn.
Please please let this be true and he is going! Can’t take another season with this guy doing ninja kicks by the half way line then falling on the floor looking at the referee for a foul as the forward runs away with ball and scores against us again
Where is the poo-meter? Sorry blogs…:-)
Oh please oh please football gods have mercy on us Gooners and let Mustafi leave this club. Amen.
Lets hope the Arsenal negotiators leverage the fact he can use both legs towards getting a better price! But as the late great Eric Morecombe said, I believe he uses all of the legs but not necessarily in the right order…:-)
Please God let it happen,if we could shift him elneny miki ospina and ozil, this window would b a success…even if we brought nout in,at least we could move forward with some optimism that things may b changing for the better
Well said mate
‘He can use both legs. Rather too often to propel himself along the ground on his big slidey arse, but let’s not dwell on that.’
Ssshhh! This is the time for us Gooners to all get together and start bigging him up!
Personally I’d be gutted if Fenerbahce stole one of our greatest assets. He’s by far the best defender we’ve had since Adams.
Oh and by the way – in case anyone’s listening – he’d be an absolute steal at £35,000,001.
Truth is he is no worse than any other of the paraplegic wastes of space we call a defence.
Arsenal need a whole new revamp of their defence and they have no money in a time when money is everything.
Talk of this player and that but forgetting the fact we are broke.
A wonderful season next season will be….
I hope David Dein rots for bringing Kroenke to Arsenal…
David Dein brought Usmanov not Kroenke.
It was Peter Hill Wood and Danny Fizman who sold their shares to Kroenke!
Need to learn a bit about Arsenal history first!
No, David Dein brought Kroenke in too. Without the knowledge of the board, that’s why he got fired. THEN he brought Usmanov in as a second attempt.
LANS
Forget the poo-meter on this one. This one deserves the Please Lord, let this happen meter…
I give it 9 Hail Marys
?????????
Best bit of news I’ve read all day