German worldwide Shkodran Mustafi has arrived in London to undergo a medical ahead of his proposed move to the Emirates.
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A centre-back also became a priority after Gabriel joined Per Mertesacker on the sidelines with an ankle injury and Mustafi emerged as Arsenal’s top target with the club locked in negotiations with Valencia for weeks.
But Wenger admitted he has found this summer his hardest ever transfer window as the deals look set to go to the wire.
The North London outfit were initially rebuffed in their £22m approach for the player, but the need for a central defender urged them to up the transfer sum.
Arsenal are still in the market for a defender and Mirror Sport understands a deal for Valencia’s Shkodran Mustafi could be back on.
Mustafi will not arrive in time to figure in Saturday’s trip to Watford but speaking before the match Arsene Wenger confirmed that he was “99 per cent” confident that both the German global and Deportivo forward Lucas Perez would arrive at the Emirates before the start of the transfer window.
While the Manchester clubs have spent more than $400 million in the window, it’s been another underwhelming few months for Arsenal, whose only major signing was Switzerland midfielder Granit Xhaka.
“Will we sign anyone before the window closes?” I expected it to be easier than ever but it was more hard than ever.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admits this has been a hard transfer window for the Gunners, although their spending could soon reach 100 million pounds. Not a lot has happened.
Should both players complete their transfers, Arsenal’s spending for the close season will be close to 100 million pounds.
“It looks like it will be frenetic in the last three days, everyone has sat on money but we know they will all splash out now”. Wenger asked. “No. I try to make the decision”.
That experience makes him different to other Spanish strikers that struggled in the Premier League in the past. My job is to make the right decisions, if that is exactly similar to the contract of the players and that maintains the supporters being happy – that is better still.
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Mustafi has been a target of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger for some time now, nearly as long as Paul Pogba was for Manchester United.
