Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Report: Roma eye Mustafi loan deal

AS Roma are being tipped to take Shkodran Mustafi on a season-long loan deal before the transfer window closes in Italy on 2 September.

Unai Emery has told the 27-year-old that he is surplus to requirements at the Emirates and that the club will sanction a temporary move if they can’t find a permanent buyer.

The Germany international spent two seasons in Serie A with Sampdoria between 2012-2014 before sealing an £8 million move to Valencia.

The Gunners recruited the centre-back from the Mestalla in 2016 for £35 million and he’s gone on to make 115 appearances.

It’s hard to tell if the Roma link, which appears to stem from the Forza Roma fan site, has any truth to it. That said, the club represents an attractive destination. Delicious pasta, design clobber, sunshine and Europa League football; it’s all on offer in the Italian capital.

The report claims Roma would have the right to sign Mustafi for between €20 to €25 million, which seems like wishful thinking. On our part.

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djosimunic

Dear God, make this happen. Amen.

Dave M

“Delicious pasta, design clobber, sunshine and Europa League football; it’s all on offer in the Italian capital.”

Anyone else know any other good things going over there we should pass onto Mustafi?

What else have the Romans done? … The Aqueducts? Sanitation? The Roads? Irrigation? Medicine? Education? And the Wine. Public baths? Public Order? brought peace?

Upamecano but downalego

Don’t forget the music too, Pavarotti, Bocelli, and erm, Eiffel 65…

Tapps

It’s safe to walk the streets at night…….

eamonem

I am coming from the other angle: litter; bureaucratic nightmare; if it means I need to park here and block you in, or walk ten metres…. you’re getting blocked; driving like lunatics; mosquitoes.

Crash Fistfight

Could be worse. Could be Naples.

Tony

Why would that be worse? Naples is a beautiful city and have a better team

Ordnance Dave

Enough with the jokes my fellow gooners. Let’s not forget we were all energised by Shokodran’s arrival from Valencia. By all accounts he’s been a consummate professional the whole time he’s been here It hasn’t worked out for him at Arsenal and it’s best for him to move on now, but Germans know a thing or two about schadenfreude.

Wilsheres Middle Finger

How bad is it that this news gave me butterflies the same as when the Pepe rumour broke!? It’s nothing spiteful or personal against Mustafi as I’m sure he is trying his best, you wouldn’t get to his level if you didn’t, but I can’t remember the last time a player personified everything that has been wrong with a squad the way he has in recent seasons. Technically sound and tidy on the ball, can play a blinder every now and again, but once the pressures on he’s flat on his ass with his arms in the air deflecting responsibility… Read more »

BCGooner

Cech losing his sh*t in response to him screaming and waving after the calamitous mis-read for that Shane Long goal was the final straw… and that was almost 18 months ago!

I could forgive his mistakes if he didn’t deflect blame like that.

Dave Cee

I can.. Walcott

Powerzan

Good for him. And for us too

Prakhar

Pace and intensity of Premier League really accentuates any player’s flaws. I am sure his mistakes won’t be in such sharp focus at Serie A.

I really hope he does well at Roma.

Anonymarse

I think to be fair this may be his biggest problem. In a slower league he could be a good defender.

It seemed to take some of the new guys by surprise in the first game.

Eternal Titi Berg Pat Nostalgia

The way Arsenal players in other positions do not help the defence enough was the problem. If that doesn’t change, there will be another Mustafi after Mustafi has left.

A Different George

I don’t agree at all. He has all the physical and technical qualities of a top-level defender. His mistakes are almost always mental errors–indeed, at this point they seem to be almost psychological, a need to self-destruct. They don’t happen nearly as often as Arsenal fans think, but they still happen far too often.

Crash Fistfight

Yes, but isn’t it easier to make decisions if you don’t have to do them so quickly?

GoonerG

Guys you missed a decimal point in the proposed perm fee.

HelderHughes

You never know, a bit like we might have to deal with with Dani, a good loan spell in a different division might make him a) more expensive and b) have more potential suitors.

I’ve said it before – there is a good defender in Mustafi somewhere. Let’s hope Roma finds him.

glenlaup

He has everything a defender needs, except one important thing: His cool. He loses his head makes big mistakes. Without those mistakes he would be a really good defender.

Upamecano but downalego

“I’ve said it before – there is a good defender in Mustafi somewhere”
No need to call him a cannibal ?

GoonerG

Guys, you missed a decimal point in the proposed perm fee.

Alex

I don’t get the harassement of some (well, many) fans on Mustafi. A very decent player, not always faithful but often disregarded. Well, German, Muslim, maybe two too big problems for some compared to the English Maguire whose stats are not better and who is supported by the medias…

Harding

Perhaps it’s the amount of points he’s cost us with unacceptable, repetitive mistakes over the last 3 years? Or the fact he refuses to take responsibility for them and blames his team mates?

Tony

Which games has he directly cost us points? And if so how many points?

kaius

This question doesn’t even deserve a response

Tony

Yeah it does, without facts and stats its a worthless point to make

The accusation made to one of our players is that he has directly cost us points from repetitive mistakes over 3 years

Must be a lot of points? My question is how many?

Eternal Titi Berg Pat Nostalgia

Mustafi wasn’t playing in the last game. A very ordinary pass created the chance and opposition scored.

Tony

No this is a real question because he isn’t half as bad as people say he is

Tony

Please explain the link between his faith and his county being factors

Clockendrider

Or his faith and a link to his lack of ability as a defender.
Honestly, don’t go looking for reasons to be offended…..

Hantal

My dislike of him as a player has nothing to do with his nationality or religion (or any player actually).
It’s because despite starting fairy strongly he hasn’t shown much improvement in his three seasons here and when things go wrong he’s quick to blame everyone around him

Red-Sky

Mustafi is decent most of the time. We Know his limitations, but he still generally produce decent games.
I wouldn’t say he was anywhere near being our worst player last season.
That is reserved for Ozil.

Also I think Musti served the club better than the likes of Mkhi, Kola, AMN, Cech, 2nd half of last season’s Torriera …etc.

To single him out with the boos was pathetic & ignorant.

utkarsh

Yeah but it’s got to the point where him leaving is the best option for all parties concerned. Don’t see Unai starting him either so no real use of keeping him around just to get booed

Goonereality

No, he isn’t “decent most of the time” as you say. As a season ticket holder I’ve seen him in almost all his home games (have you?). I can assure you he is (very) average at his best, but is often an accident waiting to happen – which it does, far, far too often for a £35 million player of his supposed experience. That’s why Emery has no faith in him and neither do the vast majority of Gooners. Simple!

mc1892

Couldn’t agree more. I have STs too and I try to steer clear of the ‘I go more so know more thing’- as I’m sure you do too- as it’s certainly not true and it’s such a huge privilege that I’m able to so would never use it in an argument (apart from with my Surrey-born United supporting friends with whom it’s absolutely fine). But for some players, defenders especially, it really does make a difference. I quite often watch Mustafi, just to see what he’s doing, and it’s not a lack of ability or application that annoys me, it’s… Read more »

kaius

One of the biggest quirks of the modern obsession with stats is the way they can hide a player’s flaws. No doubt about it, Mustafi is a statistically excellent defender (he equalled Harry Maguire’s output last year, and according to whoscored last season he was the 3rd highest rated player at the club behind Auba & Laca, and in Arsene’s last season he was the actual number one rated player). There is no use people arguing that removing Mustafi or Xhaka alone won’t fix all our problems – we know we still have to improve as a team. But as… Read more »

Wilsheres Middle Finger

Hear, hear! It’s those intangibles that he brings to the table that we would be better off without. It ranges wide between his apparent flimsy-ness as a defender and us fans anxiety watching on the pitch. It may not be measurble in stats, but it all counts and has an impact on our game and how we are percieved. Arsenal of recent years, with all of our identity crisis and inherent ability to make life difficult, and Mustafi’s playing style just don’t make a good mix. I hope he leaves this summer, and goes on to have a successfull career… Read more »

Dave Cee

Perfect

Fatgooner

The sad thing about Mustafi is that he’s actually a decent footballer. His problem is that his judgement is hopeless. He can play the game and is fit and athletic enough, but he’s an accident waiting to happen. How many times has he gone crashing into a tackle that he didn’t need to make? Or lost his man while ball-watching? The best defenders all had that natural ability to do the right thing at the right time. Mustafi never could. Tony Adams was never that great on the ball but he had great positional sense and knew when to tackle…and… Read more »

MrSymes

Very true. He’s like the anti-Mertesacker. It’s why it’s been so frustrating to see him refuse to learn.

Paul Roberts

Fats I thumbed you down just because I have never seen a post of yours without a downward thumb! ?

Shmokin'em

red sky smoking crack again ?. you mustafbeen to comment like this

Goonereality

You obviously haven’t seen him play for Arsenal! It’s nothing to do with him being either German or Muslim – that’s tripe. The reason is simple – he’s just not good enough and makes far too many mistakes. Believe me, most Gooners would like to be able to disregard him, as you put it, permanently!

Crash Fistfight

I was about to upvote before reading the sentence in which you accuse his detractors as being racist/xenophobic. The fact you’re bringing it up says more about you than the people who criticise him (albeit, I agree it has got to silly levels).

Dave Cee

Read what he is replying to

Ric

You are talking utter shite nothing to do with being German or Muslim he has just not been good enough!

Twatsloch

“Well, German, Muslim, maybe two too big problems for some”

Has anyone here ever made a comment regarding that?

SarcasmB0t

He’s a Muslim? I never realized that.
I guess that makes the stop in the Palace game more acceptable? Somehow?
Or is it just that he’s shit?

Prakhar

He looks ginger.

Upamecano but downalego

People underestimate Mustafi’s positioning and rhythm. Before everyone disregards his ability, they should watch this detailed analysis of his finest moments:

https://youtu.be/JihqELmrBuE

A Different George

Funny–but do recall when this happened and what shirt they are wearing.

Winterburns right wand

That kind of thing you can’t coach.

A Different George

I think Mustafi’s mistakes are too serious and too often for him to stay. That said, the extraordinary level of venom directed at him is hard to explain. As an example: I have seen Monreal (let me say, again, he is a player I like a lot) make really bad errors of positioning, of judgement about which player to mark, of arguing about a throw-in while play bypasses him. Sometimes (not always) he gets criticized for these errors, but he is never mocked or scorned. That is as it should be, and it should be that way for all our… Read more »

Dave Cee

The fuck are u talking about?

Anders Limpar

Are you fucking high? You honestly thing his nationality and/or religion has anything to do with it!?
He could be a Mongolian Buddhist or a Canadian Hindu and if he still played like a clueless semi blind donkey, as he does at the moment, then he’d get the same amount of stick.

Make Arsenal Great Again

This sounds too good to be true. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed ?

Goonereality

Well, even a loan would be a positive step forward. Unless it’s Mustafi’s identical (and much, much better) twin who actually plays for Roma, I don’t see a fee in the region of that being quoted as at all realistic. If the position was reversed, would we pay it?

However, I suspect that if (when, please) Roma try to sign him, we wouldn’t worry too much about the price offered – getting him, and his salary, off the books should be the first consideration.

Pat Fried Rice with Egg

Come to Besiktas?

Fart Overjars

Lets make sure that if he doesnt go we boo him mercilessly during his next start.

That way, he’ll play better

Prakhar

Defenders don’t usually have crazy interception stats, but his were always amazing at Arsenal (yas das rite) and Valencia. German first team international, often made starting eleven. World Cup winner in 2014. Signed by us for £35 million in 2016.

Just how, how did we reach this point? Just a sad, sad tale.

Maybe he publishes a book someday and we get to know the story behind this baffling regression. There is always more to the story than what us fans see.

SarcasmB0t

Defenders don’t usually stop moving mid-tackle, either.
His errors have been far too numerous and far too costly for me to give a shit about anything he might do well.
Hope he does well in Roma and stays the fuck away from my club.

Prakhar

We know it all too well. I made a positive comment because our club is done with him anyway. No need to pile on the poor guy. He was decent footballer with dogshit moments. And for a centre-back, dogshit moments are unforgivable.

Nofuture

Roma sold Manolas, they need replacement now. Sadly we didn’t do swap deal with them. I would have taken Manolas over Luiz any day.

lettra

Guy is a worlcup winner and actually respected at his other clubs. He is not on our level or at least not right for where we want to be but he could do well somewhere else hope it happens we are at the end of the road and it would be best for all parties.

allezkev

Why should €20/€25m be wishful thinking?
Just because his form has fallen off of the edge of a cliff at Arsenal it doesn’t make him worthless.
We can’t afford to give away any player cheaply, not if we want to do some business in January, you know like trying to sign Ceballos on a permanent deal…

Connoisseur

His contract runs out in 2020. I can’t imagine a foreign club paying so much for a guy with a year left on his deal even if he were to excel there.

allezkev

Transfermarket states that his contract runs out in 2021

Crash Fistfight

By the time next summer rolls around, €20/€25m might be a hell of a lot in Pounds Sterling.

loose_cannon

Good luck to him, I suppose. Might go down as Wenger’s worst ever signing considering the price. Have to say I’m not a huge fan, not just because he’s shite. We’ve always had shite defenders, it’s part of the charm of supporting Arsenal! The issue with him is inability to take responsibility for his mistakes, his tendancy to blame others. Maybe it’s not arrogance tbf, it might be that he unfortunately can’t take the pressure at a big club. But it can’t have a great effect on morale or team spirit, and it’s frustrating as hell to watch. All the… Read more »

C.B.

Adams, Bould, Campbell, O’Leary, Toure, Lauren, Rice, McLintock…

loose_cannon

Cygan, Senderos, Djourou, Silvestre, Squillaci, Eboue, Santos…..

Ya gooner

We’ve had shite and good defenders, like any football club ever (except spurs and stoke they’re just pure shite alltogether).

loose_cannon

Maybe I should have made that point more explicit but of course we’ve had excellent defenders over the years as well. The point I was making is that none of the poor ones have vexed me in quite the same as Mustafi.

Tapps

You missed Stepanovs and Caesar.

SarcasmB0t

Mustafi is the most expensive defender in our history – and he’s worse than the PL average.
Bad as players like Cygan and Senderos were, they couldn’t keep us out of the Champions League.
We lost out by two points – Mustafi cost us many more than that.
Easily Wenger’s worst signing, especially considering the frankly pathetically desperate way in which our business was conducted that summer.

goonero

Koscielny, Winterburn, Dixon, Keown, Cole, Sagna, Mertesacker ….

Dave Cee

All did better

tommy the cat

shhhh…. don’t jinx this!

Shank

I always liked the man.
I never liked the Brain Farts.

Bould & Beautiful

Why tf couldn’t we swap Mustafi with Upamecano + some £££ ? They in CL, he back home, would excel in the Bundesliga. Someone needs to up their sales pitch, its not as if hes a 5.70 rating… hes above 7.00!

Oh well, let him do a loan, hope he plays well, then re-visit the swap deal with Upa eh?
Both players will have 1 year left by then.

Hell, just give me complete control over transfers and I’ll see to it myself 😀

Kroenke are you reading???

Wengerballz

Now come on let’s all be mature and AHAHHAHAHHAH YEESSSSSSSS

Tapps

I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, I believe that in virtually every game he has played for us he has been somewhere between OK and excellent for 80 minutes. The problem is the other 10 – when he would quite regularly make some sort of spectacular fuck up. Now, I don’t have any problem with any of our players making a mistake – providing they understand that it’s a mistake, apologise to their team mates for it, and – most importantly – learn from it. Therein lies the rub.

Goonereality

Well, I’ve seen almost all his home games and I can say, in my opinion, you’re wrong. When you say that you “…believe that in virtually every game he has played for us he has been somewhere between OK and excellent for 80 minutes.”, what evidence – not belief – are you basing that (VERY BIG) assertion on?

Tapps

Not an ‘assertion’ but a point of view. The give away is the beginning of the sentence “I believe that”. And this opinion has been formed by watching Arsenal matches – both home and away. If you’re looking for external references as well, please check the Opta stats that show him to be a highly effective defender.

eamonem

I live in Rome. AS Roma are my second team. Please God, no.

Goonereality

Be quiet – Roma may hear you …

Santori

Yet again I have to bring a bit of fairness and levity to the discussion. 1) He has his flaws but he isn’t the only player to make mistakes and cost us the season. Torreira over a spell of 6 or 7 games around Xmas lost the ball in critical area in midfield leading to 4 or 5 direct goals against us at Soton away,WestHam, United etc. There is a reason why Granit started ahead of him. 2) Mustafi has a problem with concentration. but as we saw from the most recent match with Burnley, SSbob also made similar mistake… Read more »

Bishop

Dear Blogs, please can you put up an article on how to create a blog. Santori needs one

Der32

You’re bringing your opinion to the table, which is fine, but it’s not fairness and levity.

Goonereality

Extremely long-winded and unconvincing. Someone said: “There’s a great power in words, if you don’t hitch too many of them together.”. Give it a go! The consistent problem with Mustafi is that his overall performance is poor for a supposedly experienced player who cost £35 million. Yes, other players make mistakes nobody is saying they don’t, but he has been far too error prone for far too long. Emery has obviously lost confidence in Mustafi now, despite giving him ample opportunity to improve, and the vast majority of Gooners also want him off the books. So let’s all hope we… Read more »

Crash Fistfight

7amkickoff hasn’t done the “By the Numbers” pieces for over a year.

Dave Cee

Actually I think this is realistic. Roma are looking for a CB to replace Manolas. And the money is not bad from both points of view.

Goonereality

The money is rather more absolutely fantastic, than realistic, from our point of view, especially as apparently only Roma is interested. Quoting a figure and getting it are not necessarily the same thing though. Let’s see (a) if Roma take him on loan (and if “eamonem” below keeps quiet); and (b) if Mustafi does well enough for them to actually put in a bid for him. If they do, I think we’ll accept almost whatever it is.

eamonem

Would have loved Manolas at Arsenal.

Onenil

Just spent the last half hour checking out Mustafi’s worst balls ups. But which was worse? v. Aguero Cabarro cup or v Zaha to cost us possible CL, or pushing Kane over to cost a NLD win?
What is wrong with me?

A Different George

Interesting that you pick the foul on Kane for two reasons. First Kane was quite clearly offside (no need for VAR any good linesman should have seen it), and there should have been no penalty; if the call had been correct, no one would remember this foul. Second, we would have won the match if Aubameyang had not made such a hash of his penalty. Did Aubameyang–a fantastic, exciting goalscorer who I am very happy to have in the club–cost us the Champions’ League? Okay, then why did Mustafi?

Onenil

There is a difference.
Mustafi obviously didn’t know Kane was offside and still flattened him. That is not defending it’s stupidity.
Auba was our top striker last season and like every great striker misses lots of chances, even sadly penalties.
Scoring goals is hard. Not flatten slack jawed spuds in your own penalty area when there is little chance of them scoring, relatively easy.

Kroenke the Klown

Off to the hammock district with you then Mr. Scorpion

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