Arsenal Offered Defender Shkodran Mustafi A New Contract

Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi rejected a contract extension from the club in the summer.

The Gunners drafted in Brazilian centre-back Gabriel Magalhães from Lille for a fee of £27 million and also brought William Saliba back into the first-team fold following a loan spell at Saint-Etienne.

But as well as offering David Luiz a new deal that he then signed, Mustafi also had a contract on the table - only that the German turned down the proposal.

According to Chris Wheatley from football.london, the former Valencia man has told the club he intends to leave when the 2020/21 season finishes and his current deal is up.

A move to Italy would appear most likely for the £35 million signing, with his wife's Albanian-Swiss family not too far away in nearby Switzerland.

Mustafi started 15 of Arsenal's last 17 games under Mikel Arteta in last term's extended campaign before he had to undergo knee surgery in July.

He made his first appearance of the season when he replaced the injured Luiz in the 1-0 loss to Leicester City at the Emirates Stadium and was deemed to have been at fault for the winning goal scored by Jamie Vardy.

Gabriel appeared to tell him to shuffle into position but he ignored the instructions and it was costly - an unmarked Vardy heading home after being picked out by Cengiz Under at the far post.

Mustafi has made over 100 appearances for Arsenal but is not exactly well thought of by supporters, with one fan even setting up a petition calling for him to receive "life imprisonment" following some horrendous defending in a 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace in 2019.