WITH the summer transfer window fast approaching, stories are beginning to appear suggesting which players Arsenal could be looking to buy and sell this summer. With transfer budgets apparently relatively tight, several outlets are reporting that Arsenal could be forced to sell a number of first-team players to finance a rebuild. There is one name that most supporters would happily see figuring high on that list: Shkodran Mustafi.
Mustafi is arguably the worst signing in Arsenal’s illustrious history. That might initially sound harsh, but you have to remember the context of his exorbitant transfer fee: £35 million. Only the celebrated trio of Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have cost the club more.
At the time of Mustafi’s transfer from Valencia in 2016, he was actually the third most expensive defender of all time. That transfer window was not, all in all, a particularly good summer for Arsenal. They matched the fee they paid for Mustafi to acquire the divisive Granit Xhaka, and also spent more than £20 million on the forward pair of Lucas Perez and Takuma Asano. However, none of those players have managed to flop in quite the way Mustafi has.
A day in the life of Shkodran Mustafi #AFC pic.twitter.com/wsi28CN3wO
— Dream Team (@dreamteamfc) April 23, 2019
His recent error against Crystal Palace, senselessly stopping and allowing Wilfried Zaha to nip in behind him and score, is simply the latest in a catalogue of catastrophes. His Arsenal career is adorned with a rich tapestry of blunders. Among Arsenal fans, his name has become a verb: “to Mustafi” is, frankly, to err.
And yet, despite all this, he’s been a regular for almost the entirety of his Arsenal career. This season, only Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has made more starts across all competitions than Mustafi. He keeps making mistakes and keeps surviving, a clumsy cockroach of a footballer. You almost have to admire his resilience.
There are a few reasons that Arsene Wenger and latterly Unai Emery have come to rely on a player who is, by his very nature, unreliable. The first is that he's largely been quite resistant to injury. He’s one of the few Arsenal defenders who can be relied upon to play three games a week without falling apart at the seams.
Arsenal fans when they see Mustafi at right-back and Mavropanos at centre-back
Not sure the Gunners will register their first away clean sheet of the Premier League season tonight…#WATARS pic.twitter.com/Fd3yq6VN1M
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) April 15, 2019
He’s also handily versatile. Arsenal have alternated between a back three and a back four this season, and (theoretically at least) Mustafi is comfortable in either. He can play as a centre-half or even, as he did in the creditable 1-1 draw with Tottenham, as a right-back.
And for the most part, he’ll fare pretty well. He’s not the biggest or the strongest but he’s aggressive and technically able. 90 percent of what Mustafi does in any given game will be perfectly adequate, and yet he is always liable to undercut his efforts with a moment of madness.
To a certain extent, Mustafi’s consistent inconsistency is a product of where Arsenal sit in the football hierarchy. The Gunners aren’t blessed with too many elite players. That’s because they’re not, right now, an elite club. With the exception of globally-prized talents like the aforementioned Aubameyang, the squad is largely made up of ‘nearly men’, players of considerable ability who suffer with an achilles heel.
Mustafi certainly belongs to that bracket. He’s not without pedigree: he shone at Valencia and was part of a German World Cup-winning squad. However, he is continually let down by his capacity for self-destruction.
mustafi has a world cup winner's medal. koscielny doesn't. this game pic.twitter.com/qxFuuBrvOo
— grey wind (@Kiigenn) April 21, 2019
It’s not just the mistakes—it’s the manner of them. Arsenal fans will forgive a player who they perceive to be an honest trier, willing to take responsibility. Mustafi’s response to his self-induced mishaps is typically to blame a team-mate.
The patience of the supporters has worn irreparably thin. Mustafi appears to be beyond the point of no return—a critical mass of derision has been reached and there’s no obvious way back into the fans’ hearts.
In fairness to Emery, in the second half of the season, he has attempted to move on from Mustafi. His first choice back three almost certainly excludes the German, and were Rob Holding fit and available he’d probably get significantly less playing time.
Come next season, Mustafi’s exclusion from the first XI should become a permanent thing. It’s time for the club to cut their losses and move on. Mustafi’s mistakes should finally become someone else’s problem.
