Arsenal: Shkodran Mustafi transfer just another loose end

Arsenal haven’t played with the idea of Shkodran Mustafi getting onto the pitch, so his pending sale is just a matter of tying up a loose end.

When Arsenal brought in Shkodran Mustafi, they paid more for him than any defender in club history. Naturally, he was supposed to be the solution, and early on, he looked the part. 19-games unbeaten in his first 19 starts set the bar pretty high, and the physical talent was just unmissable.

Yet, for whatever reason, Mustafi just couldn’t key into the Premier League mindset. Sloppy defending and inexplicable mental collapses left him falling farther and farther out of favor until he hit Unai Emery, a man who had no qualms sitting people who aren’t performing, no matter what they’re being paid, or how much the club paid to acquire them.

Now, with the defense shaping up rather nicely, rumors have emerged that, at long last, Mustafi is set to depart for Roma in Serie A.

It’s just become a loose end at this point. Mustafi has been nowhere near the pitch either against Newcastle or against Burnley.

The result? Improvement.

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Against Newcastle, Arsenal utilized Calum Chambers and Sokratis and they held the first away clean sheet in over a year. It was a convincing defensive performance, particularly from Calum Chambers, who had the world to prove, and proved it.

Despite dropping Chambers against Burnley (which was complete and utter bulls*** by the way), the Gunners still put in a positive, if not slightly unconvincing performance behind the veteran duo of Sokratis and David Luiz.

One lapse from Luiz gave Burnley a goal to spoil a second consecutive clean sheet, and while it was definitely the kind of mistake that Mustafi would make, the rest of the match was positive and reassuring and, again, Mustafi was nowhere near. He was sitting behind the substitutions bench with Mesut Ozil, wearing street clothes.

It’s clear that Mustafi has no part to play in the team anymore, not with Rob Holding due back as well, so all this comes down to is a matter of when. When can we finally bid him farewell and call this failed experiment to a close?

It’s a shame that it never worked out, given the fantastic physical abilities of the German, but at the end of the day, recouping some kind of value for Mustafi is the best possible outcome. And with fees rumored around £27m, I can’t help but be excited to finally see this loose end… end.