It was never likely to happen but Fenerbahce won’t be signing Shkodran Mustafi.
While it was easy to get excited that a club finally wanted to sign Shkodran Mustafi, a move to Fenerbahce was never likely to happen.
That’s because they simply do not have the money to buy a player like Mustafi, no matter how badly we rate him.
The highest fee they’ve ever paid is £12.6m and every story we cover that involves them ends with the club walking away because they weren’t able to buy a player for three peanuts and a few rocks.
He's a fantastic player, @Fenerbahce_EN you'll love him. World Cup winner, scores goals, great at pointing fingers, you need him in your team. https://t.co/eBQWhv6f3u
— Daily Cannon (@DailyCannon) June 27, 2019
The club were reportedly in talks with Mustafi’s agent but I doubt they lasted very long. Not only would his fee be a problem but his wages as well. He currently earns £90kpw with Arsenal [weeps].
Turkish-football now report, “Additionally, the Yellow Canaries would not be able to afford the Germany international due to their arrangement with FFP.
“The Istanbul based club would have to sell a player in order to make an offer for Mustafi according to the agreement.
“The Yellow-Navy Blues are in a debt crisis which recently appointed club president Ali Koc has been trying to alleviate.”
They also note that, while there have been claims of talks, the player isn’t actually wanted by Damien Comolli, Fener’s sporting director.
Arsenal have reportedly tried to shift Mustafi in every window since they bought him in 2016. I don’t know how true that is but it would be understandable.
But they paid far too much for him in the first place (£36.9m) and offered him wages few other clubs could afford making it almost impossible to get rid of him.
He has two years remaining on his current Arsenal contract.