Valencia defender Shkodran Mustafi has reportedly agreed to personal terms with Premier League giants Arsenal and the deal is close to being done, according to reports from Sky Sports.
Sky reports reporter Marc Behrenbeck broke the news on Twitter on Thursday afternoon:
@SkySportNewsHD Info: Mustafi Deal to @Arsenal nearly done. Player and Club agreed on contract. Final talks w @valenciacf to come.
— Marc Behrenbeck (@Sky_Marc) August 11, 2016
The news will come as a blow to London rivals Chelsea who equally have shown an interest in signing the German defender. In fact, it was the Blues who made the first move for the German international. Chelsea saw a €25m bid for the defender rejected for the defender last week with Valencia holding out for €40m valuation.
Arsenal, in contrast, are willing to pay a better offer than their London rivals, around £30m, for the defender. Although the Gunners have yet to agree to a deal with Valencia but Sky Sports claims the deal to Arsenal is “nearly done”.
Mustafi sent Arsenal fans into an “uncontrollable meltdown of excitement” after he liked an Instagram post from Granit Xhaka, who himself moved to North London earlier this summer.
With Per Mertesacker and Gabriel injured and Laurent Koscielny been given time off for his participation in Euro 2016, Arsene Wenger desperately needs a centre-back to reinforce the depleted defence ahead of their 2016-17 Premier League campaign.
The Gunners will face Liverpool at the Emirates in their opening Premier League match on Sunday where Arsene Wenger could be forced into fielding a makeshift defence, although the arrival of Mustafi would help ease the burden.
Mustafi will be a great addition to the Gunners. He is an excellent distributor of the ball, a brilliant reader of the game and has a matured footballing brain having made more interceptions (226) than any other player in the last 2 La Liga seasons.
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