Arsène Wenger says that Shkodran Mustafi had a fantastic performance against Spurs, and revealed that the German defender wasn’t close to leaving in the summer.

Given he scored the opening goal of the weekend, and shut down the likes of Harry Kane and Dele Alli so effectively that the pair became early substitutions, it’s no surprise Mustafi was a hot topic of conversation in the post-match interviews.

Responding to whether the rumours of a summer move were true, Wenger told reporters: “Yes [his future was uncertain but he was] not close [to leaving]. When you’re a football player, even if I play four against four out there, you want to win,” reports the Evening Standard.

“These guys are winners. They want to win the football games. When they lose, they are accused of not wanting it enough. That’s part of the job, but they want to win. I agree with you that he had an outstanding performance. In the air he was good. He started a bit nervy and slowly became stronger and stronger.

“You need that kind of leader because they have a picture of the whole team in front of them. Sometimes one word, ‘go a bit more wide, go a bit more left, drop off’ makes a complete difference.”

There have been plenty of doubters when it comes to Mustafi this season. Many fans thought it would’ve been better to move him on, and I’ll freely admit I thought he’d been poor. But at the weekend, he proved to all of us that he can still put in big performances and run the defence from the centre.

Laurent Koscielny is arguably the best defender in the squad, but Mustafi’s leadership skills proved invaluable against Tottenham, as well as his dominance in the individual battles.

When he plays like that he’s clearly the best choice in the middle, because, as Wenger says, communication can make a massive difference.