Home » Teams » Arsenal » Enough is enough: Arsenal offloading £35m liability is a no-brainer and Emery must do it in the summer

Enough is enough: Arsenal offloading £35m liability is a no-brainer and Emery must do it in the summer

Why Arsenal should offload Shkodran Mustafi and buy his replacement

According to a report in the Sun, Premier League giants Arsenal are set to listen to offers for centre-back Shkodran Mustafi in the summer window.

The Gunners spent £35m on the German in 2016 to sign him from Valencia, being the third costliest defender. However, Shkodran Mustafi hasn’t lived up to the expectations and new manager Unai Emery is ready to offload the player and use the money to improve his squad ahead of the start of next season.

It is being suggested that the Spanish manager would only get a mere £40m transfer budget to spend in the summer window, hence, he may need to sell players in order to buy new ones.

Here’s why they will take the right decision the day Mustafi is sold away from the Emirates:

Unai Emery

Mustafi’s suspect defending hasn’t helped the team at all

Shkodran Mustafi is one of the World Cup winners in the Arsenal team but hasn’t been able to live up to that tag ever since he arrived in north London. The German is far too inconsistent to be a centre-back, leaving him prone to committing mistakes on a regular basis.

Furthermore, the 26-year-old is not injury-free either. A fit and firing player is such an important tool to become a top-class defender. He has missed 33 games for Arsenal since he joined the club in 2016. Hence, in two-and-a-half campaigns, Mustafi is missing games at an average of 13 per season, which isn’t good enough.

All in all, Mustafi has failed to make the impact that was expected of him when he signed from Valencia. Thus, it is best from the interest of the club to look for offers and sell him in the summer window. With such a tight budget expected, Arsenal would be hoping to make a good deal out of selling the player.

Shkodran Mustafi

What Emery has to do is scout a centre-back who can easily fit in his style of play and be a commanding presence at the back.

Read More: Despite missing out on a January loan swoop for top star, Arsenal must revive their interest in the summer again – agreed?

On the other hand, from Mustafi’s point of view, it will be good for him to leave Arsenal and ply his trade elsewhere. It is pretty obvious that he is not comfortable playing out from the back and defending in a high-line.

Hence, instead of further downgrading his confidence, the best thing to do is to change the style of play – and that will only be done by changing clubs.