Arsenal: Caglar Soyuncu for Shkodran Mustafi – A risk worth taking?

Caglar Soyuncu has stated that he wants to join Arsenal. The problem, though, is the price. Could the Gunners swap him for Shkodran Mustafi? Is it a risk worth taking?

Arsenal have spent their budget. Whether it’s £50 million or £70 million, depending on your source, once deals for Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Lucas Torreira have been completed, which they will be in the coming days and weeks — the Sokratis deal is being delayed until July on the behest of Borussia Dortmund –, they will have spent approximately £62 million on four signings.

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Nevertheless, there are still potential signings in the pipeline. The most prominent is Caglar Soyuncu, a 22-year-old centre-half who has reportedly caught the eye of Sven Mislintat with his performances at Freiburg.

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And now Soyuncu, after weeks of conjecture and reports, has had his say on the potential move. He wasn’t shy about what he wanted:

"“I hope I go to Arsenal. I really want to play in the Premier League, but everything depends on the team. I received bids from some of the teams in Turkey. I would not be able to give the team a name, but I did not accept it. I do not think about playing in Turkey at the moment. I want to continue my career in Europe, but of course, we do not know what will happen in the future.”"

The problem, as Soyuncu alludes to, is the price. A reported fee of £35 million is steep for a somewhat unproven centre-back, especially when the budget has already been spent on other options. As a result, there is only one way that I can see this transfer taking place: the selling of Shkodran Mustafi.

There have been whispers that Mislintat is not especially enamoured with Mustafi and would like to improve on the German international if he gets the chance to this summer. Selling Mustafi could raise £20-25 million. It wouldn’t fully cover the investment needed for Soyuncu, but it would help substantially.

Swapping Mustafi out for Soyuncu would be a huge risk. That is not to say that Soyuncu is worse than Mustafi. In all honesty, I have no idea who is the better player. Simply, if Arsenal were to make such a brash move, they would enter the season with only one centre-half over the age of 23, Sokratis, a defender who has never played in the Premier League before and would only have been acquired in the summer.

However brilliant you may believe Soyuncu to be or however poor you may believe Mustafi to be, it is undeniable that it would be a major punt. Calum Chambers or Soyuncu would be one of the starters alongside Sokratis with the other being the first reserve. Would you be comfortable with that set-up?

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Soyuncu may be a highly-regarded talent with great potential, but would he unsettle the balance and experience of the squad too much? It is a risk, but it might just be one that I would be willing to take.