Mikel Arteta is happy with Shkodran Mustafi and suggests the club need to sort out the defender’s contract situation, as his current deal runs down.

Amid all the talk about the contract situations with Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and others, Shkodran Mustafi is going under the radar. As things stand, the German only has a deal lasting until 2021.

Of course, that’s largely because the 28-year-old was very much out of favour up until recently. Last summer, the club would seemingly have happily accepted any reasonable bid for him. But he couldn’t even get on the pitch back then, so none came in.

A year later, Mikel Arteta is starting the defender in every game. The head coach admitted the club need to deal with Mustafi’s contract soon.

“That’s something the club has to address but he knows my opinion,” Arteta said. “I’m really happy with him as you can see.

“The way he’s playing, how committed he is with everything we’re trying to do, the level in his performance ever three or four days, he’s been really consistent.”

Mustafi hasn’t been error-free under Arteta. The poor backpass against Chelsea springs to mind, gifting them the lead at Stamford Bridge. But in general, he’s playing much better than a year ago, and an extension to protect his value might make sense.