Arsenal: I’d rather Shkodran Mustafi than David Luiz

Arsenal look to be lining up a deadline day deal for David Luiz, but honestly, I’d rather just send Shkodran Mustafi out there than double up on the Brazilian.

Arsenal‘s transfer window has been nothing short of immaculate, save for their last minute attempts to solve the centerback woes. For having a lot of centerback options, they don’t have a lot of centerback reliability, and that’s what has apparently driven them to… David Luiz.

Just yesterday, the Gunners were talking about Dayot Upamecano and Daniele Rugani. Rugani would be a two-year loan and Upamecano would have been a big money deal, totaling what was reportedly a £70m asking price. The Gunners supposedly stumped up £65m, but couldn’t swing the deal in the end.

Instead, they took the turn to David Luiz and forked up… £8m.

I admire the economics of the purchase, as that’s really cheap for a guy who isn’t completely over the hill, but at the end of the day, I would rather let Mustafi play in his limited capacity than see Luiz come in and try to be a solution.

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It sounds kind of dumb, but I’d prefer the liability that I know over the liability that we don’t. At least with Mustafi, we understand what he sucks at and we’re used to it. Sure, it would still affect us, but it’s not surprising anymore.

Luiz is not a good defender. I’m still not comfortable even calling him a defender, because he does a lot of what Mustafi does, taking reckless chances driving up the pitch, serving as a midfielder almost, with abandon for his posting as a defender. Why we would want two of these guys, I just don’t know. Maybe Luiz has a bit more composure, but how much better is it really?

And this is who Luiz is. It’s who he’s always been. He’s 32, he isn’t changing. A part of me still believes that Mustafi has the capacity to change because he is still young enough to have hopes of that, but with Luiz, we know what he is, and I don’t like it.

I’m open to surprises, and like I’ve said, I love being proven wrong. I guess on the bright side, he isn’t costing the £35m that Mustafi cost, so the expectations are low, but another body does not mean a solution.

Who knows. Maybe there is magic to be found in reuniting Edu and Luiz, but I’m a skeptic on this one. Give me the problem I know over one more problem to add to it.