Emery spoke to Mustafi about leaving Arsenal

Arsenal manager Unai Emery admitted he had spoken with Shkodran Mustafi about the possibility of the Germany international leaving the club this summer.

With clubs outside of England allowed to bring in fresh players for the rest of August, there is still a possibility for the centre-back to leave the Emirates. Despite Arsenal’s struggles in that area, Mustafi’s performances weren’t impressive enough to convince Emery to count on him on a regular basis, and with Koscielny injured for one half of the 2018/19 season and Rob Holding the other, he had plenty of chances to do so. Towards the end of the campaign, he was even given a chance at right-back with Hector Bellerin also suffering long-term injury and the boss very clear about not counting on Stephan Lichtsteiner anymore.

Since then, Koscielny has left to join Bordeaux, but David Luiz arrived from Chelsea.

Emery says he spoke to Mustafi about leaving the club at the end of last season, at the start of pre-season, and then again a few weeks ago. He believes him to be a good player that needs to play, but it seems he doesn’t see it happening at Arsenal much.