Arsenal: Fate Was On Shkodran Mustafi’s Side Last Summer

Arsenal’s transfer endeavors this summer continue to have light shed on them and, as it turns out, Shkodran Mustafi had fate on his side. As did Wenger.

There was a lot of outcry when Arsenal loaded up on Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez this summer. It felt like a load of panic buys and that’s what they were being called. There wasn’t a lot known about these two, but we gave them a shot.

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Mustafi has fulfilled his side of the bargain. And the more we hear about Mustafi’s transfer escapades, the more we see just how much fate intervened on behalf of the German. And, by that standard, how much fate intervened on behalf of Arsene Wenger and the Gunners.

It really looks like Wenger was not going to purchase more than Rob Holding. When Mats Hummels moved for £30m without a peep from Arsenal, that realization set in. We were going to rock it out with the same defensive set up we had the previous year.

Honestly, after seeing Holding and the resurgence of Gabriel Paulista, that probably would have worked. But Mustafi is looking to be even better and he has so much more room to grow.

But anyway, until Hummels moved and the injuries happened to Mertesacker and Gabriel, there didn’t appear to be a pressing need to land the German.

Now, we have more details that Wenger was indeed shopping for defenders and that he had a separate bid rejected. This one, a £35m bid for Roma defender Kostas Manolas.

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“Roma refused an almost €40m offer from Arsenal for Kostas in the summer,” the Greek’s agent said. “The Gunners were really interested but Roma’s demands exceeded what they were willing to pay.”

The bid amount should sound familiar. It’s the same amount that was paid for Shkodran Mustafi.

So what it sounds like is that when Wenger finally got around to accepting that he needed a defender, he alotted that specific amount to find a solution. And, as Hummels was already at Bayern Munich, the first target was Manolas, who was deemed too good for the bid.

Which led to Mustafi.

Perhaps Mustafi was a panic buy. Perhaps he wasn’t the first choice. Perhaps he wasn’t even on the radar until late. But what we got in Mustafi is exactly what we needed. A vocal leader who has room to grow.

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Panic or not, last-ditch or not, fate wanted Mustafi and Arsenal to be together.