Shkodran Mustafi

[Eidur the Spider 4,515]

Alex Göldie ‏@AlexisGoldie  2h2 hours ago

Wenger says he likes Walcott at ST and that Bielik, Holding and Chambers will fight for CB spot. So, as predicted, we ain't signing anyone

 

Just had a quick browse of the Arsenal forum thread for Mustafi, they seem less confident now that we're apparently in for him

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

Is this guy even any good? Comes across as very very average. 

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

2 hours ago, quickpassnmove said:

I though Mustafi was average at Sampdoria. Did he actually improve at Valencia?

My thoughts exactly. Chelsea MUST buy a new CB to slot into the starting line-up automatically, but unfortunately I do not think Mustafi is the answer. Seems like your regular defender to me and frankly nobody would have heard about him if it wasn't for Reus' last minute injury before the World Cup in 2014. We was basically called up for the NT just hours before they departed for Brazil. Do not get the hype, not really an improvement on Cahill IMO and he was pretty much poor since arriving in La Liga.

Chelsea should have made the move for Napoli's Koulibaly in big style, from the very first offer, instead of penny pinching hole summer. Call them Italians, ask them how much they want and pay the money. In the end we're probably missing on a very good defender (and an ideal partner for Zouma), all for something like 7-8m difference in what the club was ready to pay and what Napoli wanted.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,898]

20 minutes ago, petre.ispirescu said:

My thoughts exactly. Chelsea MUST buy a new CB to slot into the starting line-up automatically, but unfortunately I do not think Mustafi is the answer. Seems like your regular defender to me and frankly nobody would have heard about him if it wasn't for Reus' last minute injury before the World Cup in 2014. We was basically called up for the NT just hours before they departed for Brazil. Do not get the hype, not really an improvement on Cahill IMO and he was pretty much poor since arriving in La Liga.

Chelsea should have made the move for Napoli's Koulibaly in big style, from the very first offer, instead of penny pinching hole summer. Call them Italians, ask them how much they want and pay the money. In the end we're probably missing on a very good defender (and an ideal partner for Zouma), all for something like 7-8m difference in what the club was ready to pay and what Napoli wanted.

So Petre, you call Napoli, you ask them how much they want. They tell you the player is not for sale. Your move. What do you do? 

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

7 minutes ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

So Petre, you call Napoli, you ask them how much they want. They tell you the player is not for sale. Your move. What do you do? 

You call it a day and move to the next target, I agree. But what makes me think Napoli was ready to negociate is the amount of offers that Chelsea has made. It was just that Napoli wanted a certain amount, whereas Chelsea was always close, but never there. That's why probably Napoli got frustrated and quit the negociations. 

[Unionjack 7,531]

25 minutes ago, petre.ispirescu said:

You call it a day and move to the next target, I agree. But what makes me think Napoli was ready to negociate is the amount of offers that Chelsea has made. It was just that Napoli wanted a certain amount, whereas Chelsea was always close, but never there. That's why probably Napoli got frustrated and quit the negociations. 

But do we really know we made multiple offers? It was thought we made multiple ones for Lukasku and it turbs out we haven't even sent one ny carrier pidgeon.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,898]

10 hours ago, petre.ispirescu said:

You call it a day and move to the next target, I agree. But what makes me think Napoli was ready to negociate is the amount of offers that Chelsea has made. It was just that Napoli wanted a certain amount, whereas Chelsea was always close, but never there. That's why probably Napoli got frustrated and quit the negociations. 

First of all of course, whether a player is actually for sale or not, "not for sale", is always the opening gambit by the selling club. Secondly any speculation you and I get into as to what might have happened in the course of this negotiation is just guesswork.

Let's say however that it went as you suggest, and Chelsea picked up a vibe that Napoli actually were prepared to sell. I'd suggest that gives Chelsea two potential moves they might make, urge Napoli once again to name a price or put in a bid. In either case, nothing will come of it.

To start with, Napoli will not weaken their negotiating position by naming a price. At least not one which is anything less than twice as much as they calculate Chelsea might actually be prepared to pay tops. This leaves the other option which is to put in a bid. Chelsea know full well however that any bid which is less than the think of a number and double it figure will automatically be rejected. That's the way the game is played.

Dealing in the real world, the club must walk away or engage in the negotiating game. Either way, they face criticism from people who know the process is not as simple as they portray it, but who like to imagine that Chelsea can behave as if it was.

[termninja 5,290]

Assuming he's good, I really hope we sign him. Come the end of this season, we will have 32 year old Gary Cahill, 33 year old Ivanovic and 36 year old John Terry. Considering the way prices are going, 30mil for Mustafi is alright, and he's only 24 at the moment.

 

Mustafi aside, I can only see Koulibaly and Manolas as viable CB targets at the moment, and we haven't had much success in getting them. I really hope we don't enter this season with our current defensive lineup. It's not that I think they are awful, but we should sign at least a full back and a centre back to add more depth the team at least.

[Eidur the Spider 4,515]

Can we just sign a defender please? I don't want us going into the new season relying on Branislav 'hands behind my back' Ivanovic and Gary 'I moonwalk away from players on the six yard line' Cahill.

 

[quickpassnmove 924]

1 hour ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

So Petre, you call Napoli, you ask them how much they want. They tell you the player is not for sale. Your move. What do you do? 

Sell Diego.

[Chelsea4 1,521]

People who call Mustafi "average" should forget about football and should start watching golf. I can understand different opinions for example he is not that good or maybe we could sign someone better but saying Mustafi is average is like saying Messi is average.

[Beepu 1,714]

2 hours ago, Eidur the Spider said:

Can we just sign a defender please? I don't want us going into the new season relying on Branislav 'hands behind my back' Ivanovic and Gary 'I moonwalk away from players on the six yard line' Cahill.

 

Those are awesome nicknames! I feel bad for all your friends though, can't imagine what you call them

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

59 minutes ago, Chelsea4 said:

People who call Mustafi "average" should forget about football and should start watching golf. I can understand different opinions for example he is not that good or maybe we could sign someone better but saying Mustafi is average is like saying Messi is average.

Okay.  It's not even close to saying that Messi is average, because Mustafi is not as good as Messi.  That's crazy.  Not comparable situations at all.

He's good, IMO.  But, he's not going to be on the shortlist for the Ballon D'Or either.

[the wes 7,212]

4 hours ago, Eidur the Spider said:

 I don't want us going into the new season relying on Branislav 'hands behind my back' Ivanovic and Gary 'I moonwalk away from players on the six yard line' Cahill.

 

That made me lol 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,898]

9 hours ago, quickpassnmove said:

Sell Diego.

?

[Chelsea4 1,521]

9 hours ago, Sideshow Luiz said:

Okay.  It's not even close to saying that Messi is average, because Mustafi is not as good as Messi.  That's crazy.  Not comparable situations at all.

He's good, IMO.  But, he's not going to be on the shortlist for the Ballon D'Or either.

You've completly missed the point.

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

5 hours ago, Chelsea4 said:

You've completly missed the point.

Possibly.  

Is your point that people who think Mustafi is average should stop watching football?  Because they don't understand that calling Mustafi average is like saying Messi is average?

15 hours ago, Chelsea4 said:

People who call Mustafi "average" should forget about football and should start watching golf. I can understand different opinions for example he is not that good or maybe we could sign someone better but saying Mustafi is average is like saying Messi is average.

Personally, I think one of these players is much further from average than the other.  So far in fact, that I would say it's not comparable anymore.  I can understand how one is more easily mistaken for average than the other.

 That's my point.

 

 

 

 

[Special Juan 27,439]

Reading around Twitter it sounds like Arsenal are close to capturing him.