Shkodran Mustafi’s agent has reportedly confirmed that the defender is, unbelievably, in negotiations about a move to Barcelona.
You’d think after selling them Thomas Vermaelen and Alex Song that Barcelona would have learned their lesson but seemingly not as they are back for Shkodran Mustafi, a player most Arsenal fans would drive to Spain themselves.
ATENCIÓN!!! El representante de Mustafi afirma que está en Barcelona negociando con el Barça
— Josep Capdevila (@josepcapdevila) December 23, 2020
Translated, the tweet says, “ATTENTION!!! Mustafi’s representative affirms that he is in Barcelona negotiating with Barça”.
This rumour first started back in November when it was claimed that Barcelona were considering a move for Mustafi on loan with the German out of contract in the summer and not looking like he will sign a new one.
Mustafi’s time at Arsenal has not been good.
If the club had been able to find a buyer during the summer for the central defender, then he would no longer be with us.
As it stands, the club were not able to shift him and he remains one of the 5 million centrebacks Arsenal currently have on their books.
The January window is almost upon us so we could see a few of those players leave and it looks like Mustafi could head to Barcelona who were considering a move for either him, Antonio Rudiger or Joel Matip.
The Catalans are looking to add a fourth defender into their rotation but they preferred Rudiger or Matip ahead of Mustafi.
AC Milan are also said to be interested in the 28-year-old who is Arsenal’s most expensive defender of all time.
Arsenal paid £36.9m for Mustafi. He is no valued at around £10.8m and will be worth nothing at the end of the season.
Shkodran Mustafi says there haven’t been any talks between him and Arsenal over a new contract, as he focuses on his injury comeback.
According to reports a few weeks back, Arsenal made Shkodran Mustafi a contract offer over the summer. However, the defender responded by informing them he plans to leave at the end of the season.
Mustafi currently has a deal lasting until the summer of 2021, so he can discuss a pre-contract agreement with foreign clubs from January. But despite the above reports, he says there haven’t been any recent negotiations, as he was focusing on his injury recovery.
“We haven’t been talking about anything (to do with a contract extension) so there isn’t anything I can tell you guys,” Mustafi said.
“It is a huge club, that’s why for me if I could stay at Arsenal, of course, it would mean a lot to me.
“At the moment, for me, it has been difficult because in the last months I haven’t really been thinking about the end of my contract or what’s going on with the future because all I wanted was to be back (from injury) as quick as possible.”
Mustafi made his first appearance back after over three months out on Sunday, against Leicester City. He then made his first start against Dundalk on Thursday. So he’s really only just getting back into the fray with Arsenal.
The Germany international did alright under zero pressure against Dundalk, but he was largely at fault in that disappointing cameo against Leicester. After a generally positive 2020, he also showed worrying signs against Spurs in his previous league game.
He’s just not someone Arsenal can rely on. The good periods of form always seem to end suddenly and disastrously, which is not ideal for a centre-back. The club would be right to delay any extension talks for the time being.