Arsenal: According to Mikel Arteta, I have a future at Arsenal too

Arsenal are under tremendous guidance with Mikel Arteta, but really, what is this? Not everyone has a future at the club. I guess you can’t say that though.

Mikel Arteta made some pretty clear and obvious changes the moment he stepped foot at the Emirates. Arsenal were a team on the ropes under Unai Emery. They struggled with their identity and Emery’s hot-and-cold with players left us asking a lot of questions that didn’t seem to have immediate answers.

Arteta turned to his veterans. Guys like Matteo Guendouzi were pushed to the side. But Arteta made it clear that everyone was going to be fighting for their spot on the team. It hasn’t been long enough to see how much that will be followed through on, but there’s another theme developing here as well.

This whole, “everyone has a future” theme. Because literally every player that has had a questionable future at the club has been assured by Arteta that they do, in fact, have a future.

First it was Mesut Ozil. Then it was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Now, it’s Shkodran Mustafi. Tomorrow? Could be me.

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Now, here’s the thing. I get that Arteta isn’t going to come out and say, “Mustafi? Yeah, he’s gone first chance I get.” That’s ridiculous. This is a classic Arsene Wenger move. Wenger used to swear by the prolonged stays of his guys. Robin van Persie? Samir Nasri? They’ll never leave the club. They wouldn’t do that.

Arteta is taking the same approach. Perhaps he could vary his lines a little bit and not be all “he has a future at the club,” oh, and “he has a future at the club.” Maybe a little.

I admire optimism. I am optimistic. I want to believe that Ozil and Aubameyang and Mustafi are all we will ever need. I still get flashes of believing that Mustafi can turn things around and have exactly what Arteta says he can—a future at the club. Wouldn’t that be nice? To not have to play the transfer roulette? To get what you paid for? I’d love nothing more. But we have to be realistic. These are guys that need to be cut away as soon as possible. Even if Mikel Arteta can’t just come out and say that outright.

In the mean time, I’m an optimist. So if Mustafi wants to turn things around and convince me (again) that he has a future at the club, I’m game for that.