No, it’s not some kind of Christmas prank. Shkodran Mustafi’s agent has confirmed Arsenal’s flop is in talks with another club over a shock move away from the Emirates Stadium – and that club is the Spanish giant Barcelona!
The Germany international’s contract will expire at the end of the season and there are no signs of a new deal on the horizon, meaning he is free to negotiate a transfer to another club in January.
And unbelievably, he may just be on the verge of landing the move of his life away from north London. When Mustafi’s agent Emre Ozturk was recently questioned on an Instagram post of himself at Camp Nou, he told SPOX reporter Fabian Zerche that he was in Barcelona to negotiate on behalf of the man. ‘Arsenal.
“I’m not in Barcelona because of Yusuf Demir, but because of Arsenal’s Shkodran Mustafi, who we also represent,” the agent explained.
Ozturk also captioned the Instagram post in question with the headline “ready for the meeting”, banning the theory that the agent was simply buying a stadium tour as a Christmas present for his client.
However, it’s still unclear whether a cut-price deal is set for an immediate transfer in the January window, or if Barca will field the Arsenal man on a free for the 2021/22 campaign.
Mustafi joined the Gunners in 2016 for £ 35million, but his time in the capital was nothing short of a disaster. A string of high-profile mistakes led the 28-year-old to become recognized as a handicap at the back for Arsenal, and his poor form this year has limited him to just two league appearances.
He appeared in Arsenal’s Carabao Cup quarter-final with Manchester City, in which he landed a yellow card and conceded four goals, as the Gunners crashed under limpid circumstances.
