Arsenal: Konstantinos Mavropanos can replace Shkodran Mustafi

Shkodran Mustafi has struggled to develop in this Arsenal squad, and it’s time now that he’s replaced. And Konstantinos Mavropanos is right there and ready.

Arsenal‘s defense is a tough puzzle to solve. When everyone is healthy, and you’ve got Sokratis and Laurent Koscielny in there, everything is peachy. They can stand up to any attack, whether they’re in a back four or a back three.

But that was never the problem, was it? The problem has always been Shkodran Mustafi, and how remarkably unreliable he is. So much physical ability, so much athleticism, but a complete inability to stay mentally attuned with any given match. He makes mistakes like Koscielny makes game-saving tackles.

It’s at the point now where there can really be no more defending Mustafi. He’s had three years, the mistakes are still coming, if not moreso now than before, and it’s time to replace him.

Obviously the first inclination is to go to the transfer market and find someone to spend money on, but why do that when you’ve got someone already on the squad capable of picking up where Mustafi left off?

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The thing with Mustafi was that he was always a project. He needed to grow and develop. The fact that he hasn’t developed has left the club relying on their usual guys – Koscielny, Nacho Monreal, now Sokratis as well. But in the end, he’s still a project, and primarily gets game time in an effort to help him develop further.

Konstantinos Mavropanos is a much younger project with a lot of the same underlying characteristics – physically strong, athletic, aggressive. So just cut Mustafi loose and put Mavropanos right where the German was. Consistent game time to help him develop, the same type of player, and hope that three years down the road, he’s a hell of a lot more developed than Mustafi is now.

Of course, this doesn’t solve the longevity issue with the defense, and the increasing age of a lot of those guys, but you don’t have to solve that right away. Count on Mavropanos to develop, on Rob Holding to pick up where he left off, on Sokratis to hold down the fort, on Laurent Koscielny to give us that one more year.

From there, one good centerback can make all the difference.

But we don’t have to spend money to replace Mustafi because it’s just not necessary. He is what he is, now let Mavropanos step into whatever gap is left behind.