Arsenal willing to sell Mustafi with two Italian clubs linked

Has it really only been four years?

Arsenal are open to offers for central defender Shkodran Mustafi, and will sell the player should the right offer come in, according to German outlet Kicker. Two Serie A clubs, Lazio and Napoli are understood to be monitoring the 28-year-old, interested in bringing him back to Italy, where he spent two years at Sampdoria before joining Valencia after the 2014 World Cup. Since joining Arsenal in 2016, Mustafi has endured more hard times than celebrated the good ones. His reckless defending has seen him vilified among fans and fall down the pecking order at the club, and with new defenders coming in this summer, his time finally looks to be up. Mustafi featured under Arteta last season before sustaining an injury that he is still recovering from. During that time, the arrivals of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes have pushed him closer to the exit door. The World Cup winner has just one year left on his contract and Arsenal are hoping to recoup some of the money spent on his services over the years instead of allowing him to leave for nothing next summer. The Gunners reportedly value him at around £13.4 million. As always with flops at big clubs, the most difficult part of offloading them is their salary. Mustafi earns a reported £4m a year at Arsenal, while Lazio can 'only' offer him as much as £2.3m. Arsenal are hoping to use any money brought in from selling the player to fund their pursuit of a new midfielder, namely one of Lyon's Houssem Auoar or Atlético Madrid's Thomas Partey. It is understood that Lucas Torreira is close to joining Atlético on loan which could set the wheels in motion for Partey to move the other way.