Shkodran Mustafi’s Arsenal entrance is a welcome sight.
Fully a month after Per Mertesacker’s injury with Gabriel’s following a week later, keeping both central defenders out for a number of months, Arsene Wenger finally ended his infuriating foot dragging amidst fury from fans and an anemic start to Arsenal’s season. The Gunners will receive crucial reinforcements, never more so, in central defence with Valencia’s Shkodran Mustafi signed for $46million, an Arsenal record for a defender.
Wenger also signed striker Lucas Perez for $23million from Deportivo La Coruna, the club’s top scorer in La Liga with 18 goals. Not exactly a marquee but the consensus on Lucas (as he’s known) is that of a Jamie Vardy type with his speed, unflagging work rate, and opportunism. He’s 27 years old and has bounced around quite a bit before returning to La Liga after stints in the Ukraine and Greece. The back story is Arsenal honed in on Lucas just as Everton were said to have a done deal and heisted him off with a better offer. The funny part is that when he was available, Wenger supposedly wasn’t interested.
Mustafi, on the other hand is a national level player for the Mannschaft and featured prominently in this year’s Euro after injury ruled out Mats Hummels for the first match against Ukraine. Mustafi’s header opened the scoring. At 24 years, he’s in position to take over Per Mertesacker, now in the last year of his contract. The German will immediately partner Laurent Koscielny and has an extender period of time to secure a place as Gabriel is not expected back till October and Mertesacker even further down to the beginning of next year. Rob Holding, the 19 year old defender had a traumatic start to his Arsenal career in that wildly swinging loss to Liverpool and will probably have to look to League Cup appearances to gain more experience.
As this video clearly shows, Mustafi is actually a right back but is equally comfortable in a central position. He’s a fierce tackler, interceptor, with good positional sense, and strong in the air. He is also comfortable on the ball and can pass. Arsenal, with Koscielny and now Mustafi, have a couple of players from the backfield who can score off corners and improving their set piece opportunities.
Arsenal meet Watford this Saturday and with the Liverpool loss exposing our defensive frailties and the draw against Leicester highlighting equally, the limitations in attack, a win as they say, would be most welcome.