According to Shkodran Mustafi’s father, the defender is keeping an eye out for new opportunities but he’s not ‘going to hell’ in search of a change of scenery.
The Germany international, signed for £32 million from Valencia in 2016, was told by Arsenal in the summer that he was surplus to requirements but opted to stick things out at the Emirates when it became apparent that attractive alternatives would not be forthcoming.
The defender, under contract until July 2021, changed representatives recently and was linked with a move to Turkey a couple of weeks ago.
Given the lack of game time and the fact he’s lost the confidence of a large portion of the fanbase, you’d imagine Mustafi would be itching for a move but it sounds as though he’s happy to bide his time. Perhaps that’s understandable given his current wages.
Looking to the future, Mustafi senior admitted that a return to his homeland, where his son has never actually played, could an option.
“He’s not a stressor. He’s currently having a difficult time in London, but he’s not someone who spreads unrest or brings bad spirits into the team or club,” he told Transfermarkt (translated by Sport Witness).
“If something good were to come now, we would think about it. We’re not going to hell looking for a change.
“It must make sense and fit for him. Shkodran is the one who shows us the way and gives us direction.
“There is always a market for an internationally experienced defender. We always get inquiries. He felt very comfortable in Italy and Spain.
“He has never played in Germany, so maybe that’s an option. Then he has played in the top four leagues.”
It’s definitely interesting timing to put the feelers out for a move. It’s not like Mustafi covered himself in glory on Tuesday night. Indeed, he went so far as to apologise on social media to his teammates and David Luiz for the mistake that led to the Brazilian being sent off against Chelsea.
I think it’s high time to get this guy out the door while we can still get something for him. Obviously he won’t go for what we bought him for but at least something reasonable we can use towards a replacement.
The issue is he appears to not want to leave unless it’s a terrific situation or in a bosman. Emery publicly told Mustafi and Ozil to leave and both basically dug in. Other than not playing him the club have no actual way to force out a player. If he doesn’t care if he plays then there’s really nothing the club can do
It’s just unfortunate he somehow keeps creeping up to third choice all the time. Three managers in a row have known he’s shit yet played him a bunch. He is a wobbly crutch that we know needs replacing yet we keep breaking our legs at the wrong time.
Also, I think if we could get anything for him he would have been sold. There’s no market for him.
We really only have 4 senior cbs and holding has spent virtually the whole year injured.
He frustrates me so much every time he plays, then I feel so sorry for him on a human level, seeing someone having such a bad time. But it doesn’t need to be this deep! He’s not our son that we left on the streets, he’s a footballer that’s earning a lot of money at Arsenal and HES JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH! That’s it! If he cares about his career, then put money aside, take a pay cut and go to a team that suits your playing style etc where you can get your career on track. I don’t want… Read more »
Suits his playing?
So a team that never gets attacked then?
You are dead right. They cant get a new long term solution until they get him off the books.
Theyve been trying to get him out for 3 years, it’s not arsenal who wants him to stay.
…..It’s every other club. Especially Tottenham. Shame Mustafi doesn’t play for Spurs. He’d fit in there sweet as a nut.
Twatsloch. It’s taken a while but you’ve finally seen sense. Congratulations.
We just can’t get rid of him, didn’t wenger try and sell him for a brief moment
Wenger benched Mustafi in an early game, he reacted poorly, tried to force a move to Inter Milan on deadline day summer 2017 but things didn’t work out for whatever reason. If you can imagine there were many people who were scared at the prospect of his departure.
Of course we can’t get rid of him. If I ran a pub team I wouldn’t have him.
The title is a bit paraphrased but there were no quotation marks so fair play.
Its interesting to see players sitting on their contracts instead of trying to play as much as possible.
It doesnt send the correct message, does it?
Fair play to Ceballos for wanting to play football. We’re paying average players far too much money, we have an elite CL squad wage bill, with a mid table, Europa league quality squad. I feel a bit sorry for Mustafi, he looks a broken man, but then I remember he earns more in a week, than I do in a year, and the sympathy fades a little. Can’t really blame him for wanting to milk his contract, he’ll never get another like it. Same with Ozil, I can’t stand him as a player, he’s lazy, disinterested, and his professionalism has… Read more »
It would really be great to read one post of yours that does not mention Ozil. Well, probably not great, but much better.
The difference is that with the right coach and players around him, Ozil is still a world class player capable of turning Arsenal into a top side. Mustafi, regardless of the coach or players around him, is only capable, as we have seen, of turning Arsenal into a laughingstock.
It doesn’t send the correct message, but it sends a big message nonetheless. Not only is the player not fit to wear an Arsenal shirt – he’s a blatant mercenary as well. Cannot wait to see the back of him. He’s an absolute disgrace.
I think £15 mil would be a reasonable fee, hope he can get a fresh start somewhere new. He’s not that old either.
£15m….. are you insane?
how much do u think we can realistically get for him?
id be impressed if we got 5 with one year left on his contract
Id be happy to get him off the wage bill for free. If he’s not around, he cant be picked and cant continue to make basis errors that cost us goals. No transfer fee is worth that I reckon.
‘basic’ even…
I don’t think we could give him away at this point
Insane that it’s too much or too little? I don’t think he can fetch that much…not even close.
I wonder if with the wage savings if it’s worth selling him (or any player) for whatever you can get. Don’t get me wrong, I hate that we wouldn’t recoup anywhere near the 32 mil we signed him for, but surely anything is better than nothing at this point. The 32 million is the epitome of a “sunk cost,” isn’t it?
I don’t think any club will shell out 15 million for Mustafi, the person option for both parties is free transfer.
Personally, I think we should just let him go for free and free up the wages. Paying him £90k per week to play one or two games is a waste of money. If someone is willing to pay a small fee for him then bite their arm off. He is not good enough. I have no ill feeling towards him, he should not have been signed for our club. He shows no sign of improvement and when he is at fault he does not take it on board. His remarks about what the team need to do are a bit… Read more »
Spot on
15 million?! ? We’ll be lucky if we get 15 quid.
He’s negotiating for calamity bonuses
“he’s not someone who spreads unrest or brings bad spirits into the team or club” – No, no, not at all.
I think his father was talking about his influence and effect in the changing room, that he is not one of those disgruntled players who infects the atmosphere of the squad. From everything we know, his teammates like him, there is no sign of his causing dissension or grousing or opposing the manager.
He makes too many serious mistakes on the pitch, and so should not play for Arsenal. Why can’t we leave it at that?
I’ll tell you why we can’t leave it at that – check out the Premiership table and where Arsenal currently are. That’s down to Mustafi’s mistakes.
No it’s not. It’s down to fans like you. You created the toxic atmosphere that has had a debilitating effect on our players, and thus, their performances and results.
as long as his terms are nowhere near our back 4 then more power to him
Done with this guy. Done. What little sympathy I did have for that clown has well and truly gone now. Year of the Euros, clearly out of favour, and content to just wind the contract down and get that Bosman payout. What ever happened to actually wanting to play football
At last. People are finally beginning to wake up to the idiot and the fact that he’ll never change – regardless of who the manager is.
While I don’t particularly like Mustafi as a player for us, I don’t see anything wrong with a player staying in a place where he is comfortable, paid well for his labor, and is under contract. A lot of comments I’ve seen on here are siding with the bosses here (KSE) instead of the player- which is a bit ridiculous, even if you don’t like a specific player under contract.
Yes, agreed. its not the player’s fault. And we have had issues getting rid of players for a while now bc we have not been buying well. Jenkinson, Elneny, Mhkitaryan were all difficult to sell. The latter two STILL on our books Lucas Perez also for a long while in misadventure with us now ding well at Alaves. Debuchy was a complete waste of time. Don’t even get started with Asian players like Park. Then certain players like Ozil extended too long and on high salaries. We did not resolve Ramsey who went off for free. Currently if Pepe proves… Read more »
He’s not getting paid “for his labor”.
If he had made the high-profile mistakes he has in another job, he would have gotten fired (or if he were, say, a truck driver, in prison).
This isn’t a worker’s rights issue, it’s a shit footballer earning too much issue.
What he’s basically saying is he know’s he wont get a better offer and until he does he’s quite happy with the wage he’s on in my opinion,
Or, he is basically saying I will take a good option that suits me best when available. If that means waiting for a Bosman so that I get the money instead of the owners, I will wait and do the best job I can do for Arsenal. If the fans do not like that then tough shizt because I am only doing what 99% of them would do and they treat me like crap anyway.
Mustafi admitting he fucked up? I guess he Mustafi nally realized it’s better to put your hand up and own your mistakes.
Which he did.
And fair play to him because thereafter he picked himself up put in a decent second half performance came up with the thumping clearance to set up Martinelli for the equaliser.
…less some people prefer to think he had no part in the goal (even if it was chiefly Martinelli), if you bother to watch the match again, Mustafi was specifically indicating to the young brazilian where he felt he should stand to receive any possible clearance.
“He has never played in Germany, so maybe that’s an option.”
Good call.. send him to a place where they haven’t seen him play!
Maybe the Germans know he’s a fucking liability and have cancelled his passport…
GlenCokerill’sjawbone?
Except, you know, when he was on the pitch as they won the World Cup.
Yeah, and by the way some of his disciples carry on on social networks, you’d be forgiven for thinking he’d won the World Cup singlehanded.
If I speak …
As Atom says above, there is really nothing the club can do except not playing him. But if we absolutely must play him due to injuries to others then I suggest Arteta gives him two clear instructions: 1) Do not pass back to the goalie whatever the case may be. 2) No tackling inside the box.
He has put in some very good blocks for us even in game against Chelsea. Its hard to legislate this. BUT we do still take unnecessary risk playing too deep under Arteta even. Particularly with the Cbacks we have. Again many of the issues surrounding Mustafi are invented. (Taking nothing away from latest high profile error) ..the game he played before for us against Palace, it was double jeopardy. The media Pundist typically criticised him for backing off. They said we had five back against 3 on the break but truthfully we only had two bc the other 3 Arsenal… Read more »
Well I’m glad you’re not our manager. And imagine if we concede a goal because he didn’t make a tackle when the striker got in the box – you’ll be the first to come on here and bitch about it.
Mustafi knows his time is up but with a wonderful contract and the chance to leave on a free and rake in even more, its no surprise he’s still with us. He didn’t award himself his contract we were happy to give it to him, so questions must be asked about our recruitment of a mistake riddled defender, and just how is the club going to get any pocket change back when the football world gets to see his accidents whenever he plays. He lifts the opposition players/ fans and irritates plenty of Arsenal fans.
All those complaining know in they hearts they would do the same thing too. Its about earning money. Loyalties come a long way second.
Its kind of scary that whoever at the club who negotiated his transfer from Valencia actually took advice from the Neville brothers seriously…..
What’s even more scary is the sheer amount of numpties who STILL back the idiot, regardless of the number of precious points we’re haemorrhaging due to his disgraceful ineptitude.
He does not have as many accidents as many prefer to think but they are enough. He is frankly his own worse enemy. BUT we have also other players under performing. Ozil was awarded a ridiculous extension when we could have sealed Ramsey. Neither Gnabry nor Ox were locked down and we eventually lost both. We now have commitment to 72m back loaded to Pepe who has flattered to deceive mostly, loses the ball a lot, poor pass completion, not half of the performance we get from a much younger Martinelli also in first season. It isn’t an issue of… Read more »
The difference is that Ozil has the ability, given the right players and coaching to make a team challenge for the title. Mustafi has the ability, regardless of the players or coach Otto make a team a laughingstock.
*to
“He is not a stressor.”
I agree. He is more of a stressee.
I have never seen a player with his ability to create clear goal scoring opportunities…for the other side. Glad he doesn’t stress about it! ?
As Blogs said, he’s an impediment to victory. The longer he stays the more points he’ll cost us.
It doesn’t help to convince him that he really should look for a new club and doesn’t have a future here, when you play him again and again. Rather bring Medley up from the U23 or play Holding and let him get better by playing regularly than play Mustafi again as soon as there are some suspensions/injuries/ illnesses. Don’t think he’s a bad guy but we should never have lost the first game against Chelsea because of him and surely shouldn’t have given him the opportunity to f*ck the second game up, too. Such a frustrating player.
Extremely vexing player. I defend him because he is not all bad. He is strong in the air for us and we miss his presence at times when under duress with teams who like the long ball approach. He is also decent passing from the back. Sure he made a number of poor passes but many prefer not to acknowledge he also released Pepe with a very good pass from deep for a strong opportunity on goal in last game. And in general he plays decent but he has propensity for that one moment of madness which will cost you.… Read more »
Who’s going to buy him? We still have Elneny and Mhkitaryan. We barely got rid of the even more useless Jenkinson. Likely Mustafi will be moved in the summer if not loaned out. As mentioned before many people have deluded themselves into thinking we have been great in market since Wenger and dick Law relinquished their roles. In fact we have been poor. We have spent more on players with poorer returns and still have not resolved outstanding capability shortfalls at Cback and CM. Mustafi isn’t the biggest issue even. he comes in and performs to the best of his… Read more »
Best put him as a makeweight in a transfer and also sub his wages for next two years.
We can get someone (almost anyone) who would be more productive than him without doing the whole sell, negotiate buy BS of a transfer window
The day Mustafi’s name isn’t on arsenal’s books will be a special day and the one to celebrate heavily… Who can take him seriously anymore, not being welcome or wanted but persisting on staying here, only playing an occasional game here and there. Now when given a chance he showed again that he is a liability, even when everybody has a clean slate under Arteta. Should be put in a cannon and shot somewhere far from Arsenal. Maybe Ivan can take him for his futuristic vision of Milan.
“linked with a move to Turkey” never happens unless you are Elneny.
Even Henry in his prime was linked with a move to Turkey.
Ozil is on extension to 2021. 350K salary per week could fund 2 + decent players. We can afford to either loan out Ozil or carry him for last season but we need new blood in at AM. I think by summer, if we don’t experience more than one key departure of either Auba or Laca, we should consider getting Ziyech or even Fekir as : 1) Playmaker role 2) Alternative to Pepe but also left wing with Martinelli pushed central. That along with hopefully Saliba back, one more Cback (Mustafi out or on loan) and a CM (which frankly… Read more »
Right now, when someone mentions mustafi it takes me back to second he gave utterly pub league backpass and i dont really care was he good after that, i am so pissed off with this guy I try to avoid all news related to him. Please stop posting these. Its like when someone goes under the train and media is asked not to make news out of it.
Lol no
The only ways to get rid of him are to send him out on loan or swap him for someone else’s unwanted highly paid player.
A swap deal could work out better if you could find someone who has ability but doesn’t fit their current club’s system, and who just needs a change of scenery. But I highly doubt Raul’s ability to find someone like that.
So if we could find a club who would pay his salary on a loan, that would probably be our best hope of getting rid of him.
This is the reality of contractual situations. There are people you want to clear out that will refuse and only go when they’re ready.
There are also people you want to keep that will rather run down their contracts and not renew. You take the bad with the good and it evens out in the end
“…and the fact he’s lost the confidence of a large portion of the fanbase…” Who gives a toss about what the fans think?! Fans are stupid. Just look at these comments sections – can’t spell properly or use grammar to save their lives, make ridiculous assumptions about football, and they think they are Arrigo Sacchi and Rinus Michels rolled up in one. Mustafi is a terrific defender (World Cup winner) who is extremely short on confidence right now. Whose fault is that? The fans who constantly get on his back and put so much unnecessary pressure on him. It’s like… Read more »
*who’s
1 nil
A Mustafi lover and a fully paid up member of the grammar police, who, surprise surprise, exhibits poor spelling and grammar. ?
I think you’ll find “who’s” is short for “who is”. When you want to talk about something belonging to “who”, it’s “whose”.
VAR has disallowed your goal.
Luther….. chill mate, chill. Relax. Nurse will be along with your medication in five minutes.
Just get out already
Realistically, who in the name of everything holy will want to buy mustaphi without causing a fan revolt. His best bet is to stick around hoping to change a bit of the perception.
We are clearly not going to get our wish with this one.
Message for Mustafi’s Dad. Too bad your old lady didn’t have a headache, because the fruit of your loins gives us plenty of headaches.
I’d like to send the same message to your dad.