Arsenal’s Shkodran Mustafi in Shock Barcelona Talks

Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi is in talks with Barcelona over a move.

Not only seeing Shkodran Mustafi start football matches for Arsenal, but take his place in fixtures ahead of cast members yet to get even a sniff of senior action *cough William Saliba *cough* was one of many grumblings following the Manchester City defeat.

A milestone that flew under the radar on Tuesday evening was that the 4-1 loss to Pep Guardiola‘s side brought up 150 appearances for Mustafi in an Arsenal shirt.

You can count the good displays on one hand. You’d need a calculator to add up the errors.

Supporters have been swayed by the German’s brief spells of renaissance. These weren’t periods of world-beater quality, more minor improvements on the basement-level displays we’ve become accustomed to.

Quite a few players in this squad have the knack of pulling the wool over our eyes on occasion, the reasons for that being the standard is so low it’s easy to have our perceptions miscued.

Mustafi has been, and remains, desperately below Premier League quality, with his eventual departure one of numerous exits that can’t come soon enough.

His contract expires in the summer – one fans collectively hope will be his last – although faint murmurings of an earlier departure have been born out of desperation rather than likelihood.

But every now and then, the carrot gets dangled in front of our eyes. Another entry into the long line of straws Arsenal fans clutch onto is that Mustafi may be on his way out in the coming window.

Could it really be true?