Arsenal: Shkodran Mustafi transfer rumors were an eventuality

Arsenal may have to sell some players this summer, and Shkodran Mustafi would be a primse candidate for most. It’s time to start following the story.

Arsenal‘s defense had three culprits of individual mistakes last year – Shkodran Mustafi, Laurent Koscielny and Petr Cech. While the latter two are certainly surprising given how much experience they have, the former – Mustafi – is being ousted as the scapegoat because he doesn’t have the same resume to fall back on.

Mustafi has a ton of talent. When he is tuned in, he is really good. Pure athleticism mixed with ingenuity and fearlessness – it’s a potent trifecta.

But getting him to switch on once he has been switched-off is a difficult thing to do, and no one seems to be able to push him to willfully flip that switch.

With a new regime starting up, and defensive reinforcements coming in, Mustafi may have a new lease on life. There will be less pressure and more competition to keep him at his best, lest he fall to the bench.

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However, it is also setting him up as the primary candidate to be sold. In an effort to raise funds, the Gunners may have to part with some players, and few stand out quite like Mustafi. Even in my support of the guy, I still see the logic in it. He could bring in a hefty fee and the Gunners have defenders galore that could step into his place.

Not to mention that he was almost sold to Inter Milan last summer which, at the time, was a massive shock.

We now have our first transfer links with Mustafi, and the team said to be on the approach is Juventus, which just goes to show how much talent this guy really has, if only it can be maximized and honed into an actual product, and not a crapshoot.

This will be an ongoing story all summer. If Arsenal do decide to sell players, and they still might, despite the preseason kicking off, then Mustafi has to be at the forefront of potential exits.

That’s not to say I agree with it. I really don’t. Unless we can improve upon the fee that we paid for him two years ago, which I highly doubt. The better option is to harvest his good and block out the bad, or at the very least allow Unai Emery his chance to get the best out of this incredibly talented defender.

Next: Arsenal's End Of Season Player Rankings

These rumors were always going to come. We all knew that. Now we just have to see what happens next.

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