Arsenal: Shkodran Mustafi near-transfer a completely different situation

Arsenal has had plenty of exits and rumors of exits, but Shkodran Mustafi’s supposed exit is a completely different situation, which is a good thing.

Arsenal’s supposed exodus is losing significant momentum, as all three of the stars we expected to lose are now hitting obstacles. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is apparently too good for both Arsenal and Chelsea as he chose Liverpool while Manchester City think Alexis Sanchez is only as good as Raheem Sterling.

Shkodran Mustafi, meanwhile, is reportedly not of interest to Inter Milan after all. Maybe that’s because they only wanted him on loan. Yet reports of new bids are flooding in.

Let’s just make one thing clear about what the differences between Mustafi’s situation and everyone else’s.

For starters, Mustafi wants to be here. He has shown that every step of the way. He plays with passion, he communicates with his team mates, he is a quality individual who has so much more to give to the team and again, the evidence suggests he wants to be here.

Which is a massive factor.

Oxlade-Chamberlain doesn’t. That’s obvious. Alexis, if I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt, is like 80/20 not wanting to be here.

Oxlade-Chamberlain can be replaced. Reiss Nelson is quality and Sead Kolasinac should be starting out wide anyway. I’m not worried about the Ox’s exit.

Alexis can’t necessarily be replaced, but there are two ways to look at it. 1. He doesn’t have to be, because while he wasn’t at the top of his game against Liverpool, he sure as hell wasn’t like the Ox. 2. There are players who can patch over his departure and signings we can make to help with it. The attack isn’t going to be a problem if we send the right people out there.

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Mustafi, meanwhile, is a completely and wholly unnecessary exit. The defense is in shambles. Mustafi is a budding world class defender who is bred from the German defense factory. He has shown quality upon quality and sure, he’s had some rough patches, but do you really prefer Rob Holding or Nacho Monreal on that back line to him?

Because apparently Arsene Wenger does.

There is literally no explanation as to why Wenger would be willing to sell Mustafi after just a year. He was a record signing as a defender and even if he was a panic buy, no one questioned it after they saw what he could do.

Why? Because he was damn good.

Logically, there isn’t a single solitary reason why Mustafi should be sold. Jonny Evans is certainly not worthy of replacing Mustafi. I would love having Evans at the club but you don’t need Mustafi’s exit to justify it.

Same goes with Virgil van Dijk. Who wouldn’t love to have him at the club? But you don’t have to sell Mustafi to get there. You’ve already sold Gabriel Paulista. There’s room. And it looks like we are going to be turning a profit this transfer window with Oxlade-Chamberlain’s imbecility.

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I don’t know how much clearer it can be. Keep Mustafi. I’m literally begging a void, as if that void holds any sway over the club. This guy is an asset to the club. A smart signing. Don’t undo it all by selling him for no reason.

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