Arsenal: Shkodran Mustafi may be a bigger leader than he knows

Arsenal have had a leadership void for quite some time, but Shkodran Mustafi can fill it, maybe even more than he himself knows.

It takes awhile to settle in with new clubs, especially when you’re in your young-to-mid 20s. When Shkdoran Mustafi came to Arsenal, that was his case. The chips were stacked against him with rumors of him being a panic buy and nothing more, but his performances on the pitch were enough to bank on.

Even in spite of the inconsistencies, Mustafi has more than earned his stay on the pitch. And he is earning it off the pitch as well, which can be just as important.

That said, going back to the acclimation period, it may be a bit daunting to step into a new team knowing you have the qualities to be a leader, with your outspokenness and your understanding of the game, but to step up and do it, as a young 20-something-year-old in a massive club like Arsenal, well, that has to be tough.

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I wonder if Mustafi understands how devoid of leadership this club is and, by extension, how much he is then fitting into this void. Yet I feel that he can fill this void even more, if he comes around to understanding his own position.

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Arsenal don’t have leaders on the pitch. I reckon that both Granit Xhaka and Mustafi have the qualities to make it to that point, but the void is here and now, and given their leadership on the pitch, they are headed in the right direction.

Especially in Mustafi’s case, though, the here and now can be filled by him. He is so clearly a vocal leader of this team on the pitch, you see it every time he is out there, directing traffic and coordinating with team mates.

But now, to hear him speak of this players meeting, and speak so sensibly about what this season has been, both in terms of disappointment but also in terms of growing from it, you can again see that he can be a leader, he is a leader, but there seems to be a missing step between him being a defacto leader and him being in the position he is in now.

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I reckon that just has to do with time and confidence. He has to understand how much this team needs someone like him to step up and, in time – hopefully not much more time – he should find his way into a more predominant position.