Arsenal: A decision has to be made over Shkodran Mustafi

Arsenal are starting to move away from a forced reliance on Shkodra Mustafi, but a decision point has to be made one way or the other.

I have spent a lot of time advocating for faith to be kept in Shkodran Mustafi and his future at Arsenal. He’s just one of those perpetually frustrating players that, when he’s good, holy hell is he good. Like, really good. I think he has pocketed more opposing superstar strikers than any other defender I can think of.

But he’s also been beat by more than any other defender I can think of. He’s such a hit and miss guy that you have to ask yourself how long you let this unfold before you just cash in what you can and move on to someone else.

That decision point isn’t tomorrow, or the next day, it’s now. In fact, it may actually have already been done and passed on, honestly, because we are seeing less and less of Mustafi these days and, honestly, not that many people are complaining, my self included.

Let me just say that I really like Mustafi. I love what he brings to this club and want him to succeed so badly, but you can’t give a guy infinite lifelines. I thought that maybe he could carve out a future as a rightback, seeing as how it played to his strengths more than being a centerback did, but I’m questioning that too.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

The thing it, Mustafi is a player that has so much experience that you could still get some pretty decent transfer value out of him. Maybe not the full £35m you paid for him, but even at a slight discount, that’s still a nice chunk of change that can come from a guy that is gradually being pushed out of the club anyway.

This defense needs to get younger though, and Mustafi could still play a part in that. You have to consider that Sokratis did a pretty good job as a stay-at-home defender when paired with Mustafi, and prior to Koscielny coming back, there was some promise to be found in that partnership, if you play to Mustafi’s strengths.

It’s not as easy as you’d think it would be. If you’re going to sell Mustafi, you better be getting something better in return, because if not, what’s the point? That said, if he could pay for half of Samuel Umtiti, well…