Arsenal: Lack Of Shkodran Mustafi A Major Black Eye

Arsenal are heading into another Premier League match up with the same defense. How is this possibly happening? It’s a major black eye for Arsene Wenger.

It really is incredibly debilitating and disheartening. Arsenal are a very proud club and the supporters expect the absolute best from this club that they love. But it’s so inccredibly difficult to find logic with Wenger’s actions sometimes.

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The match against Liverpool was a roller coaster, but no matter what part of the roller coaster we were on, one thing was perfectly clear: A lot was missing. Arsenal were not a complete team and, barring any miracles, could not compete for the title that continues to elude us.

The defense in particular was a major sore spot. Rob Holding and Calum Chambers? That was never going to work. But sure, let Wenger run them out there and surely he will see for himself that they are nowhere near ready and that he needs help, which he already acknowledged that he did.

He saw it, but he did nothing about it. Naturally, he blamed the Euros for taking all of his players and proceeded to go another deafeningly silent week. Nobody was signed. No rumors picked up any steam. If anything, some rumors lost steam.

Many ‘alternate’ options popped up such as Simon Kjaer, Omer Toprak and even the 21 year old stalwart Jose Gimenez. But everyone knew that Shkodran Mustafi was the guy that was needed. A perfect heir for Per Mertesacker. Big, strong, intelligent and German.

This deal is starting to become a laughing stock. It’s a black eye on Arsene Wenger. He came out in another press conference and mentioned how he was working hard but “finding players that will strengthen your squad is difficult.”

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This drives me absolutely crazy. I was clenching my teeth while typing it. So it’s difficult to find Mustafi? Who has a big ‘On Sale’ sticker on his forehead? Is there any question at all that he would improve this squad? Any whatsoever? The only question they could possibly be asking is how someone named “Shkodran Mustafi” is German, but that’s none of my business.

I’m sure other clubs are in on the guy and that’s understandable, but according to Wenger, it’s not hard to attract players. “We have plenty of players who want to join us,” he said. “It’s not so difficult to attract players.”

What am I missing here? It took Manchester United several weeks to lock up Paul Pogba, but that was a record breaking deal and they still achieved it quicker than Arsenal and the endless Mustafi deal.

What a morale booster it would have been to land a new defender before Leicester City. Even if Wenger didn’t see him as ‘match fit’, because no one ever truly is. It still shows action. It shows ambition. It shows that he has a damn pulse. But we couldn’t even do that.

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Supposedly, a deal has been agreed, but we have certainly heard this before. Monday is the arrival date. We will see. There has been too much disappointment to bank on this.

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