Chelsea looking to hijack Arsenal target, bid rejected

After Arsenal were linked with the German defender to fill the void left by the injury to Per Mertesacker, it seems that Chelsea are looking to hijack the deal for Shkodran Mustafi and bring him to Stamford Bridge instead. According to reports from Spain, Antonio Conte has made a bid of £25 million for the experienced centre back, but Valencia have rejected the bid.

Arsene Wenger has no excuse not to do all he can to push through a move for the 24-year old, as he is extremely short on defenders at the moment, with Koscielny still resting from Euro 2016 and Per Mertesacker injured until the new year. Mustafi seems like the perfect fit and is one of the only good defenders that are likely to be available for sale this summer, so it may be now or never for Wenger to sign a good defender.

Valencia are reported to be interested in listening to offers of around £34 million for their star man, even though Mustafi’s buy out clause is £41 million. Neither of these figures should be of any problem to Chelsea or Arsenal, who have £100 million or more at their disposal every summer.

During his time at the La Liga outfit, Mustafi has made 61 appearances and scored 6 goals over the course of 2 years. He also broke on to the international scene during his time at Valencia, being called up for his first friendly in Feb 2014 against Chile, making his first appearance in May 2014 against Poland before making Joachim Low’s World Cup squad. He originally missed out on the 23-man squad, but the injury to Marco Reus left one spot free which was filled by Mustafi.

It seems like Mustafi is destined for a move to the Premier League this summer, but to whom remains unknown. Don’t be surprised to see Manchester United linked with his signature too befor a deal is done as all 3 sides mentioned could do with some defensive reinforcements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF6b6Bxo2Gg