This name has been silently floating around for a while now. Yesterday, after news of Mertesacker injury, it got louder.
6'0ft, 24 years old, 12 caps for Germany, currently plays for Valencia. Would we be happy with him? Is he an acceptable, cheaper option to Manolas or Koulibaly?
Any actual links?
He looked very good in the Euros when called upon. If I remember correctly jones was singing his praises.
He is available. Valencia/his agent have been touting him all around. Its all about the money. Everyone want 30 mill for anyone these days.
I remember him having a decent world cup and then he got snapped up by Valencia.
His performances in Euros is what impressed me greatly. I remember him being extremely solid against Ukraine and then when he came on against France he did very well too (other than being bamboozled by Pogba's trick that led to the goal).
Segway wrote:He looked very good in the Euros when called upon. If I remember correctly jones was singing his praises.
You remember correctly!
Not just an alternative to Manolas and Koulibaly, he's better than both, comfortably I'd add. He's had a mixed season at Valencia but that was the case for pretty much everyone because of the clown of club owner, being managed by Gary fucking Neville certainly didn't help either. The season before though (his first in Spain) he was so good that there were persistent rumours of Barcelona paying up to 50m for him. If there's ever a time we should snap him up it's now, he'll probably be out of reach soon again and we could do with a starter of his calibre right now
jones wrote:Segway wrote:He looked very good in the Euros when called upon. If I remember correctly jones was singing his praises.
You remember correctly!
Not just an alternative to Manolas and Koulibaly, he's better than both, comfortably I'd add. He's had a mixed season at Valencia but that was the case for pretty much everyone because of the clown of club owner, being managed by Gary fucking Neville certainly didn't help either. The season before though (his first in Spain) he was so good that there were persistent rumours of Barcelona paying up to 50m for him. If there's ever a time we should snap him up it's now, he'll probably be out of reach soon again and we could do with a starter of his calibre right now
Wow that's high praise.
Just saw some quotes from Valencia coach Ayestaran that he expects Mustafi to leave this Summer and he bemoans the lack of transfer funds available to him:
“Mustafi? We’re not counting on him. We will if he stays. But we are looking for a centre-back. A forward? We’ll check the performance of [Paco] Alcacer, [Santi] Mina and Rodrigo [Moreno] and see what the market offers. And we also have [Luis] Nani, who can play in any attacking position but we see him more a wide player than a natural forward."
http://www.football-espana.net/59757/ayestaran-laments-valencia-situation
It is on.
marv3llous wrote:http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/arsenal-transfer-news-rumours-shkodran-8493684
- Jan Aage Fjortoft.
Mirror are quoting Star who are quoting Emanuele Grimcunt. Jan Twatoft chipping in doesn't help either.
Serial liars all around. Safe to say that there's nothing in this. 
Huge fan of this guy. I really hope this is true.
Signing him means Wenger would have to admit Gabriel was a mistake. I think he's too stubborn to do that.
More links, this time from Sportbild. I cant make out if its a rehash of previous stories.
Edit:
[size=small][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Premier League club Arsenal will oblige the German international Shkodran Mustafi. The 24-year-old central defender, who is still currently under contract at Valencia, will replace in London Per Mertesacker. The reports of the Italian sports journalist Emanuele Giulianelli on Twitter.[/font][/size]
False alarm. Giulianelli is one of the biggest frauds on twitter. If the links originated from him, this is definitely not happening.
No, signing him is due to the fact that Per is out for 5 months ...
Fantastic Mr.Fox wrote:More links, this time from Sportbild. I cant make out if its a rehash of previous stories.
"The reports of the Italian sports journalist Emanuele Giulianelli on Twitter."
Why don't these papers do some of their own fucking research and journalism instead of rehashing shit off twitter?
Just saw that, Giulianelli is a fraud. If the links originated from him, little chance this is true.
A Koscielny-Mustafi partnership would be immense.
Concerned that this bloke isn't that physically imposing.
Rather Koulibaly or Manolas but I guess they are pipe dreams
koulibaly wouldn't fit in at the present day arsenal. he'd probably fit in better at chelsea.
Who'd win in a fight between Vieira and Sol, both in their prime?
Sol, pure power.
Vieira - he'd use that vaseline/sweat patch on his chest to hypnotise Sol, and deck him.
Vieria.
Never will forget sol walking out on his team at half time in 2006.
That would have a massive bearing in i fight of course. 
no way sol takes vieria.
Shady wrote:Who'd win in a fight between Vieira and Sol, both in their prime?
Lauren.
Who would be in this fight in our current team? I guess Xhaka and someone else.
Probably kos, no nonsense fight over in seconds.
Jack. He'd glass them while they weren't looking.
Solid defender we mustafim.
1/10
Try harder
Meatwad wrote:koulibaly wouldn't fit in at the present day arsenal. he'd probably fit in better at chelsea.
Literally everyone in that pic is 6 ft plus apart from Cashley.
Why did Wenger stop rating physical power and presence and went for the midget life instead?
Was that the game away to Leeds where we ripped into them?
Looks like a CL game...
Jed wrote:Meatwad wrote:koulibaly wouldn't fit in at the present day arsenal. he'd probably fit in better at chelsea.
Literally everyone in that pic is 6 ft plus apart from Cashley.
Why did Wenger stop rating physical power and presence and went for the midget life instead?
When wenger went all Barca lite and developed a fetish for Fabregas. Ruined us.
Players that combined great technique with athletic ability and power were always scarce and after our exploits in the unbeaten season started costing even more. I remember Wenger was desperate for Essien and even wanted Drogba. Ultimately we couldn't match Chelsea.
While I despise Fabregas now, Barca didn't play football like they did under Guardiola when the reigns of our midfield were handed to Cesc. To be fair we played some top class attacking football with him in midfield and were on course for a 100 goals when Cesc and Van Persie were fit together.
Wenger didn't completely shun power and pace either. Adebayor, Song, Diaby, Walcott were bought in for one aspect or another. In my opinion there in lay Wenger's biggest fault. He didn't commit to one philosophy. He tried to stitch together a team of technical players with players that brought in physical strength and he failed. If anything, he needed to add more technique to play the football he tried to play, even though football in England is so different.
Rohit wrote:Players that combined great technique with athletic ability and power were always scarce and after our exploits in the unbeaten season started costing even more.
Yeah, we developed a whole theory of the emphasis on technical ability over athleticism at our price point on A-M during that period. And I think it was borne out.
Butterflies looking at that photo.
Reports that Mustafi would be available for EUR 20m. If that is true, this is the biggest no-brainer in history.
€25m, £20 - still, a no-brainer as we really need a defender.
That seems cheap these days. The player is obviously available but it's probably one of those that makes too much sense for it to happen.
