Mikel Arteta Offers Shkodran Mustafi Lifeline To Stay At Arsenal

Shkodran Mustafi, in the later spell of former head coach Unai Emery, was tipped to leave the club last summer but Mikel Arteta is offering him a chance to remain at the club much longer.

The 27-year-old is into his fourth season at Emirates Stadium but Arteta seemed convinced about him despite his tendencies to make game-wrecking mistakes just like he did in the team's 2-2 draw at Chelsea on Tuesday.

"The plans maybe in the summer were different with him," said Arteta when asked about the German's future at the club. "Yes he made a mistake, but it's OK. I like more than the reaction and I look more at the reaction."

Shkodran's back-pass resulted in the team losing David Luiz to a red-card offense for a rough tackle on Tammy Abraham, who drew a penalty and converted by Jorginho to give Blues the lead. 10-man Arsenal had to battle through and cancel out the hosts' lead to force a draw.

Despite the pain of having to watch the team lose Luiz to a red-card offense and having to play one-man down, he yet commended how the 27-year-old got back into the game and contributed to getting an away draw.

He said, "After that ( defensive error), he tried to play every single time, he went for every single challenge and put his body on the line."

Shkodran moved to the London-based club from Valencia in a deal worth more than £35 million in August 2016 and has made 126 appearances having a record of nine goals in all competitions.