Shkodran Mustafi has admitted he never thought his Arsenal career was over despite his terrible form, being dropped from the side and being the subject of a lot of ridicule from Arsenal fans.

Lets face it, Shkodran Mustafi has not really been a good signing for Arsenal. Paying way too much for the defender, he has shown himself to be error prone regularly and rash without reason more times than is acceptable.

But since Unai Emery’s sacking and Mikel Arteta’s arrival, he seems almost a reformed player. Sure, he still has errors in his game but, somehow, they seem less serious and damaging and that is a massive step in the right direction.

“If you think things are over for you, then you should retire,” Mustafi said after Thursday’s 1-0 win at Olympiacos. “That’s not like you should think as a professional. You always get the opportunities and a team has more than 20 players for a reason.

“The main thing for me was to be professional because as long as you stay professional, you have no fault for anything. Stay professional, wait until you get your next opportunity and then take it.

“In the beginning of the season, not being selected, not making the squad, it has been difficult,” Mustafi said. “But I am a person who tries to see more the positive things than the negatives. I think that helped me a lot.”

Mustafi has started the last six Arsenal games across all competitions with three consecutive clean sheets coming in his developing partnership with David Luiz.