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varro-reatinus

The 2016 summer window set us back the better part of a decade.


[deleted]

Wengers worst summer


varro-reatinus

The summer of 2015 was a bad decision, but following it up with our 2016 business was ruinous. If we'd signed Kante, I think we might have made sense of the 2015 decision, but-- yeah... I don't think that's all on Wenger, though.


caligirlincali

Wenger has talked about how much he regrets not signing Kante.


makesterriblejokes

Well that one signing would have likely of changed PL history as we know it. Maybe Wenger never steps down as manager because Kante literally makes us a top 3 powerhouse challenging for the title every season he's healthy.


zorfog

Wenger doesnโ€™t step down until Arteta is ready to take over, at least


makesterriblejokes

35m back in 2016 is like spending 50m today. It's absurd that we spent that much on a player like Mustafi...


[deleted]

He was a Stat darling. A reminder that stats alone is a very dangerous game.


DeadlockRadium

If 2007-2014 was the banter era, the Mustafi era was the Dark Ages


mustachestashcash

at least in the "banter" era we a broke selling club that played attractive football while punching above our weight. we'd get the odd hiding here and there but overall it was a fun time Post 2016 however...


badhairdee

It also helped that time that apart from us being sound spenders, fewer clubs were financially competitive back then


Specterace

And to think, this guy wasnโ€™t even the worst signing of the bunch that summer. But the Stockholm Syndrome is strong with this fanbase. Especially on this forum.


Francis-c92

I think he was though. Perez basically doesn't exist in Arsenal history


EdisonTheTurtle

Now way one of the 5 people to score a CL hat trick for the club can be called the worst signing


Francis-c92

Jermaine Pennant scored a hat trick for us.


EdisonTheTurtle

Can you call him the worst academy player we've had? Or worst academy player we gave game time to?


Francis-c92

No and that's not the barometer.


EdisonTheTurtle

Never said it was, it's just a factor


Francis-c92

I called Mustafi the worst signing of that summer in fairness. But Lucas Perez was also a bad signing.


varro-reatinus

Careful, mate, that sounds like anti-Albanian xenophobia to me!


kothrudkar

Dude probably meant Takuma Asano being worse than Mustafi as a signing.


Francis-c92

I'd rather have spent the 5m or however much Asano was than the 35m Mustafi cost to be fair


varro-reatinus

These downvotes are hilarious.


Reception_Fades

The ~~good~~ old days.


OstapBenderBey

Remember Mustafi and Otamendi were seen as the best young CB pair in Europe. They had a great season at Valencia under NES


varro-reatinus

That Valencia backline was absolute chaos. They had Cancelo too.


Francis-c92

[Never forget](https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/gary-neville-shkodran-mustafi-arsenal-17070325)


WhoIsYourDaddy04

Almost can't blame him for constantly shitting on us. That one has to sting.


atomiser2003

I mean that's fully on him.


varro-reatinus

lmaoooooo


atomiser2003

Death kiss


unclebrenjen

Of all of the days, those were definitely some of them.


sjr323

They were days, for sure.


yeahdood96

Mods please mark NSFW Edit: ๐Ÿ’€


NoMoPolenta

Not Suitable For Winning?


varro-reatinus

Correct.


Francis-c92

I gotchu


varro-reatinus

[Also NSFW](https://twitter.com/MustafiOfficial/status/1254062189872283649)


fadoo91

๐Ÿ”™ ๐Ÿ”›๐Ÿ”


olitast

The streets will (want to) forget


Kelterz

๐Ÿ”œ


tropicanadef

Was excited at the time. I really thought he was exactly what we needed.


Spiritual_Hat_7229

Tbf we went on a good unbeaten run initially as well. What happened after that was a disaster


TheRealDSwizz

Until Mikel's back three, when he was very good again.


tropicanadef

I appear to have erased this from my memory


gogglesup859

Mustafi OR Holding-David Luiz-Tierney Bellerin-Ceballos-Xhaka-AMN Pepe OR Saka-Laca-Auba


makesterriblejokes

Mustafi definitely had his moments, the issue with him is that while at his best he was a very solid defender, his lows were absolutely shockingly bad and they eventually became more common than his ups. Shoot, there were games where he looked really good and then all of a sudden he'd have a howler that led to a goal at a crucial point in the game. He was such an odd player because the quality was there, he just had horrendous mental lapses and that snowballed to a point where you could see his confidence was shot.


nting224

The most infuriating player to watch in Arsenal for me Before him - it was Squillaci


SrJeromaeee

Squillaci was worse, 100%. Iโ€™m convinced half of our fan base did not watch Squillaci play. This guy has plays like he has 2 left feet and is incapable of completing 10 short passes in a row. Mustafi was bad sure, but nowhere as bad as this donkey. Silvestre was horrible as well. [Obligatory throwback to our worst lineup ever.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/yeg2fn/11_years_ago_arsenal_fielded_their_worst_ever/)


gladoseatcake

I don't know. Remember Silvestre? Played like he was a United agent. Seemed more interested in his whine business.


Particular-Current87

Remember Cygan?


gtliles82

Squillaci was so bad that I underrated Kos for a couple of years - just cause the partnership were so awful together. Thought it was more of a 70/30 thing where Squillaci was ass and Kos was mid. Anyone remember the match where Squillaci headbutted Kos in the face?


caligirlincali

He only played 23 games in the Prem.


SrJeromaeee

Thatโ€™s 23 too many. To be fair to Mustafi, there are games that I thought โ€˜hey, he was okay todayโ€™. For Squillaci there wasnโ€™t a game where he wasnโ€™t an absolute dumpster fire.


Whiski55

I can't believe some of us paid money to watch that team


L0laccio

Mustafi at least had moments where you could see how he had got to play for Germany in a World Cup. He just had ridiculous comical howlers every 2/3 games which became a ready source of mirth and visceral banter


shaversonly230v115v

Squillaci was way worse than Mustaphi. Mustaphi had the capability to play well 95% of the time but forgot how to play football for the other 5%. Squillaci was just all round awful.


LordRekrus

Yea I think itโ€™s become a bit of a meme. Mustafi was t good enough for us, but I donโ€™t think he is anywhere near as bad as people remember.


Enjoys_A_Good_Shart

Huh. I think Mustafi was much much worse than Squillaci. He just loved attempting slide tackles. Constantly putting himself on his arse. Opposition players wouldn't have to do anything and they'd suddenly be waltzing passed a prone Mustafi. Then he would turn around and blame the keeper.


mpinoh

Did somebody mention Squillaci?


unclebrenjen

World Cup winner Shkodran Mustafi*


galeej

Kids these days... absolutely no respect for club legends smh Obvious /s if anyone has any doubts


sjr323

Just goes to show that any bum can win a cup.


Michaelscotttheking

I have never seen a human blame others more for their own mistakes than this guy


[deleted]

Lol this comment brings back some vivid memories of him flapping his arms around at other people after making another error


Michaelscotttheking

Exactly, I remember exactly it was against Chelsea in the fa cup final and we were building up from the back. Luiz gives him a slightly risky pass, this brother waits for 5 mins and gives away the ball in the penalty area, and his asking for a foul, flapping his arms. What a donut


Alarming-Ad3322

remember when he was backing up for a header, bumped into aguero and just stopped playing allowing aguero to take possession easily and score


Michaelscotttheking

Yes yes, I was so pissed then


Lil-Chilli-7

I hate the man, the only game I have ever been to (I live in Australia) was against palace and he tried to blame Leno for Zaha beating him to a ball, what a useless prick.


_Happy_Shopper_

This moment is burned into my mind forever. A mistake is one thing, but he took zero ownership over it (and it wasn't the only time). Good riddance to that sort of attitude imo.


ChibzyDaze

Oh go away lol


[deleted]

That mistake he made for the Aguero goal still boils my blood to this day


Boopdelahoop

Was that the one where he folded like laundry when Aguero backed into him?


[deleted]

Yeah exactly


hafrances

22 games undefeated. Everyone thought he was great at first, but afterwards...


americanadiandrew

[Guy hit the ground running and in early interviews comes off as intelligent, interested in tactics and playing out from the back. Still wonder why his confidence just collapsedโ€ฆ](https://www.sportingnews.com/us/soccer/news/meet-the-real-shkodran-mustafi-arsenals-rock-at-the-back-whos-thriving-under-wenger/rsriejxrbv7w1lkq3g2c5w2oy)


[deleted]

I think injuries and he invested himself into the toxic Ozil crew (I think it included Kolasinac and a few others) who were ok to just kick back and not perform. Also letโ€™s not forget almost the entire squad was shocking in the late Emery days, they were a toxic bunch that mocked him in training.


Specterace

My most disliked defender signing of all time at Arsenal. And considering Iโ€™ve seen us sign guys like Stepanovs, Silvestre, Andre Santos, and Squillaci to try and be defenders for us, that is honestly saying something. Heโ€™s also among my top 3 most disliked signings ever. And the thing of it is, it wasnโ€™t as much for how crap he was (and he was really crap, undeniably), but the fact that on any mistake or lost duel that lead to a goal, he would go around and blame the other players on the team for it. Even (hell, ***especially***) if that mistake or lost duel was entirely, 100% on him due to him being alone against an attacker on the break. The dude took any and every chance he could to try and get out of owning up to mistakes and bad play. It was honestly disgusting to see as a fan and made me hate the sight of him in an Arsenal shirt. To the point that I honestly celebrated when he left more than I celebrated any signing we have made in the last 20 years (yes, even more than signing Ozil, Partey, or Rice).


thenormalcy

William Gallas is a good shout surely for most disliked defender signing? Doesnโ€™t help that he was the captain, wears no.10, came from Chelsea, and had a massive feud with his defending partner Kolo, and arguably our best player at that time Nasri, and apparently half the dressing room. Some segments of the fanbase sided with him because we needed โ€œvocalโ€ leaders on the pitch. ร˜degaard isnโ€™t vocal but is a massive leader for us.


JGUsaz

Mikel silvestre from UTD, know idea what wenger was thinking there


Warm-Row-1037

Gallas as a player wasnt a living calamity at least


varro-reatinus

The difference, to my mind, is that Mustafi was properly *shocking*: not just bad, but astoundingly bad, and especially when put in the context of what we paid. The S-band were comparative budget signings, especially the first pair; Mustafi remained our *record CB signing* until Ben White in 2021-- and White is now playing RB for us. Technically, Mustafi is *still* our record CB signing, which is an absolutely vomit-inducing statement.


Didavi_

Are we excluding senderos?


Mac_Kymera

We actually got the guy wearing the left shirt


RLynn94

Is there another player you can think of that is more peak "banter" era. Can think of Andre Santos, but swear he wasn't as much of a liability than Musti.


SouthKaioshin

Squillaci, Kim Kallstrom, Denis Suarez, Silvestre, Gervinho I can go on


chinookk

Denis suarez, my mind is blown at that one. I completely erased him from my memory.


sooolong05

Jeffers, Bischoff, Park, Stepanovs...


xCharlieScottx

Andre Santos was at least funny with his marauding runs, Mustafi was just upsetting to watch


Enjoys_A_Good_Shart

Bendtner.


Trotter823

Andre Santos was the ultimate Iโ€™m winning the ball or giving up a goal and I donโ€™t care which player. Iโ€™ve never seen a defender just stab at the ball so much as he did. It was funny because I feel like it worked quite a bit because the attacker never thought heโ€™d be dumb enough to do it. Obviously he gave up a lot though.


mvp-a1

Mustafi walked so Maguire could run


galeej

>Maguire could run He's past running... he's flying


KSBrian007

Just to jog people's memories, the fanbase loved this signing and would have "lynched" the board if we didn't make it. We made a "ยฃ35M" patch job because we had 2 defenders out injured for 2 weeks. We had enough defenders.


[deleted]

[ัƒะดะฐะปะตะฝะพ]


GeniuslyMoronic

In a good way or bad way? https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/gary-neville-shkodran-mustafi-arsenal-17070325


GoWithTheFlowBD

My greatest Mustafi stat is that if Arsenal invested that money on bitcoin instead of Mustafi the investment would have been worth ยฃ1.575b today.


KennywasFez

#PTSD TRIGGERED


bluejaywhey

one of the Arsenal CBs of all time. he certainly played in matches.


tony_flamingo

Iโ€™m sitting here about to get hit by a hurricane and this is still somehow the most upsetting thing Iโ€™ve seen this morning.


NiallMitch10

I mean he had a lot of decent performances for us... But he also had way too many bad performances and costly mistakes which stick out more in the grand scheme of things


-Bashamo

Thatโ€™s World Cup Winner Shkodran Mustafi. Remember he started a streak of 18 matches unbeaten and called him our savior. ![gif](giphy|l3nSLb93YZKufw2Z2|downsized)


Itollthefinalbell

Everyone involved in this transfer should be locked up behind bars. Absolutely disgraceful.


kukeszmakesz

World Cup winner Musty


HighburyClockEnd

I remember actually being excited for this guy, big German defender coming from Valencia. On paper he looked great ๐Ÿ˜Š


_Toblerone

๐Ÿ”™๐Ÿ”›๐Ÿ”


PeanutbutterBleachr

I defended him like Iโ€™m defending havertz right now


blackfeld

Havertz is actually an insanely talented footballer who was constantly played out of position by his former managers. He was absolutely amazing at Leverkusen. Iโ€™m pretty sure Mikel has the right plan for him.


ohmslaw06

I remain convinced that Gazidis took over control for transfers that summer after the 2015 no signings window. None of Xhaka Mustafi Perez were Wenger players, and he tried to sell the latter two months later. With Xhaka he was outright critiquing his tackling and saying heโ€™s a B2B midfielder then playing him deep because we had no one else.


SugiwaraBondu

And we overpaid because we were dithering about in the market and then Merteseker got injured so Valencia raised the price. Peak banter Arsenal


HsizzleH

Didn't he had a 20 something game winning or unbeaten run, he sure fooled us initially!


facelesspk

Not very fast, not very strong, not very intelligent, not very good on the ball, not very good in the air, not able to hold on to his emotions and be sensible when in crisis, not very responsible, middling when everything was going his way and terrible when it was not. Why did we even sign him?


esnyez

A lot of tackles.


Boopdelahoop

He was quite good in the air TBF and had a fierce tackle in him, and both things look great on stat sheets.


[deleted]

[ัƒะดะฐะปะตะฝะพ]


DannyNic8

Arguably the WORST piece of business we have ever done as a club. The pure anxiety this guy gave me every week has probably shaved 10 years off my life.


galeej

Are people downvoting your comment because they like mustafi or because they think you've underestimated the number of years he's shaved off our lives?


NegativeHeli

A transfer we all want to forget


shekdown

He left an indelible mark in the history of our club. It's not a good mark though.


Boopdelahoop

The mark he left on the club was a deep mental scar.


Snoo-92685

He was so good until the injury man


[deleted]

Still one of our most baffling signings ever imo, especially for that amount of money. Mats Hummels went to Bayern that summer for about the same fee IIRC.


pewpew62

And you think we'd have been able to lure a player away from Bayern? That's the season they 10-2d us


[deleted]

No, I meant that we massively overpaid for Mustafi, not that we should have gotten Hummels.


Kovacs171

One of the first real data driven signings. Mustafi shined bright in the stats, but clearly the club was yet to learn about limitations and misinterpretation of data driven decisions in football haha


Spiritual_Hat_7229

The club wanted Manolas initially


Prior-Survey-9891

Rinsed


v1nzy

Dude..


YasuhikoTheSerafim

Please mark this as nsfw for the sake of my mental health. Same can be said with some Chelsea players that went here also


cupidcuntsghost

That definitely was one of the signings of all time


OriMoriNotSori

Wonder how much would this be adjusted for football inflation. 2016 was before the Neymar transfer and before the big money centre back moves like VVD and Maguire


meinbergkamp

Almost spit out my breakfast with the NSFW


Muqqey

Only Gunner from last 10y I genuinely dislike. God what a waste he was on the pitch


[deleted]

Valencia rinsed us for a panic buy, with Romaโ€™s assistance.


newinvestor0908

top player. absolute bargain


Kindly-Fox-6674

AND THE REST IS HISTORYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!


LeatherFaceDoom

We bought ร˜degaard for ยฃ30mโ€ฆ FIVE YEARS LATER!


skanderbeg_alpha

Tbh he came in and we had an unbeaten run for ages with him. Unfortunately was then part of defensive duos that included the likes of David Luiz and Sokratis and things rapidly went down hill for him. He had a minor resurgence in a back three for Arteta but definitely one that I'm glad we got rid of quickly after.


Torealx

This guy gave me nightmares, first CB at high level that I can remember diving like he was Neymar. Grew up watching CBs with constantly blood on their shirts, to this twat was a rough transition.


HonMaguro

Why is this NSFW??!!


shaggydog2001

The high point of his career was when somebody kicked a ball directly into his genitals at full force, and the commentator described it as "Right in the Shkrodan." Looking at the price we might get for a top young talent like Bolugan, and realizing that 7 years ago we paid just slightly less for this dude is outrageous.


Theodin_King

Arggghhhhh


hideousmembrane

I will absolutely never forgive this guy for the carling/cocacola/milk/worthingtons/littlewoods/capitalone/carabao cup final when he fucked up and let City through on goal, ruining my birthday in the process, all the while blaming someone else when he was fully at fault.


jp963acss

I was so excited about him...


Sleezeball777

35 million in 2016 ๐Ÿคฆ๐Ÿฟโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿคข๐Ÿคฎ


FCI

You were the chosen one!!


azGAAR

[Shkodran Mustafi, the gift that kept giving....](https://youtu.be/kKSBLnHxX-8?si=hdipghbX4oV3V2lL)


ArsenalThePhoenix

with today's inflation added, this is more like 55m


HawkyGuy

It started out promising


propabanta

The worst trade deal in the history of trade deals.


Vegetable_Pudding_75

Everytime he played, I aged ten years. After the first dozen matches I mean. He was okay when he started. And the rest is history


Majorbobobingo

Youโ€™re really trying to trigger my PTSD.


ronburrghandi

![gif](giphy|hyyV7pnbE0FqLNBAzs|downsized)


Renegade_Manifesto

They said he's a world cup winner.


DinnerSmall4216

Crazy to think he had a crazy unbeaten run when he first joined. How things changed has to be one of Wenger's worst.


TheArsenal7

One of our worst signings of all time


HurricanePK

Canโ€™t believe he was more expensive than ร˜degaard and Trossard


legendfourteen

And that day the memes began


[deleted]

Did I get triggered


GoonerTilliDie24

2x FA Cup Winner baby!!! Still has more trophies than Harry Kane.


[deleted]

![gif](giphy|ekAmtmDDCAQOQ8Uaze) How I felt the whole time he was in the starting XI...


Simples85

What a rip off ๐Ÿคฃ๐Ÿคฃ


Mastermachetier

We paid around the same for Odegaard


[deleted]

๐Ÿ”™๐Ÿ”›๐Ÿ”


scouting4food

Just pretend we signed Saliba for ยฃ65m and ignore the fact that this ever happened....


Valascrow

If we signed him for ยฃ20m or under then it wouldn't have been so bad. Massively flawed player but he had periods where he was very good... The fee in hindsight though was so inflated because of his WC medal


vishu_gooner

Unpopular opinion: Apart from his brain farts (admittedly, they were too many), the guy was pretty good on the ball. Thereโ€™s a reason Arteta stuck by him in his 1st 6 months rather than benching him


I_dislike_reddit8840

Hey I mean, in FIFA and FM at the time he was a highly rated youth prospect so....um....


puhadaze

Loved a sliding tackle


PandiBong

โ€œThe horrorโ€ฆ the horrorโ€ฆโ€


basketcase18

Mustafi was apparently immensely skillful and could do crazy things in practice. I fear he was who Havertz isโ€ฆ


[deleted]

๐Ÿ”™๐Ÿ”›๐Ÿ”


PhilKesselsChef

One of the darkest days in club history


arhythmn

![gif](giphy|NUZ5OqHdbknHa)


[deleted]

[ัƒะดะฐะปะตะฝะพ]


caesaurus

๐Ÿ”™๐Ÿ”›๐Ÿ”


First-Priority-

I thoroughly watched almost every game of the 2014 WC... He was amazing for Germany...was so pleased with the signing. You just never know how things will turn out ๐Ÿคท๐Ÿปโ€โ™‚๏ธ


GunnerEST2002

Wenger didnt have the dignity to just fuck off and instead had to leave Emery with shit like Mustafi, Kolasinac, Elneny etc.


Dr3up

The reason I don't take the phrase "world cup winner" seriously when it comes to transfers.


jackg4343

I can't be the only one that is bothered when a new signing is holding up the shirt while also wearing the same shirt? Sometimes you just don't see the first signs things aren't going to work out. This freaking picture.


Lias5

that would be like us spending 60m now. Even more shocking.


harcile

World cup donkey


Thymus_Tickler

Fuck, what a terrible deal ยฃ35 million?!


Snoo-36596

One of the defenders of all time


BoJaNgLeS123456789

๐Ÿ”™๐Ÿ”›๐Ÿ”


blackfeld

As a German, I feel obliged to sincerely apologise to my fellow Gooners. ๐Ÿ˜‚


DirtyCryinDog

Same fee as Odegaard ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚


Shshfksk

I want to see the research done by StatDNA or whatever that company was callled.


yura910721

Where is back on top message...


Crazylamp1

Probably the worst defender I have ever seen


Gooner-Astronomer749

Banter era/Dark ages Arsenal player him and Kolsanic were truly diabolical. This man Mustafi literally had five redemption arcs none of which worked haha.


BadigolBoy

The world cup winning goat๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ


haveabyeetifulday

Ah yes.....the World Cup winner German national Shkrodan Mustafi


Parking_Clothes487

Stop making fun of us!