It was always obvious that Barcelona didn’t have the money to go out and sign a ready made superstar in January to help their defence, but you would think they could find someone better than Shkodran Mustafi.
The German defender has been a major part of Arsenal’s Europa League campaign but he cannot find a way into the awful team that is somehow plummeting towards relegation at this point.
He’s never truly convinced at the Emirates due to concentration errors and some pretty poor performances, so it must simply be the case that Barca are desperate due to an injury crisis at the Nou Camp just now.
It’s been confirmed that Mustafi’s agent has been to Barcelona to discuss a transfer, so there must be legitimate interest in making this happen:
Shkodran Mustafi’s agent has confirmed he has been in Barcelona to discuss a move for the defender… ? pic.twitter.com/S2sKJ2B1XQ
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) December 23, 2020
Mustafi will turn 29 next year so it’s not like there’s scope for him to suddenly blossom and become a top class defender, but he did have a positive spell in La Liga with Valencia so there could be some hope that he’s more suited to the Spanish style.
From Barca’s point of view it would be yet another stop gap signing that they’ll need to replace in a year or two, but it would be fascinating to see how he fared in their team.