No, this is not some form of Christmas prank. Shkodran Mustafi's agent has confirmed that the Arsenal flop is in talks with another club over a shock move away from the Emirates Stadium - and that club is Spanish giants Barcelona!
The Germany international's contract is set to expire at the end of the season, and there have been no indications of a new deal on the horizon, meaning he is free to negotiate a move to another club in January.
And unbelievably, he may be about to land himself the move of a lifetime away from north London. When Mustafi's agent Emre Ozturk was recently asked about an Instagram post of himself at Camp Nou, he told SPOX journalist Fabian Zerche that he was in Barcelona to negotiate on behalf of the Arsenal man.
“I’m not in Barcelona because of Yusuf Demir, but because of Shkodran Mustafi from Arsenal, whom we also represent,” the agent explained.
Ozturk also captioned the Instagram post in question with the title 'ready for meeting', banishing the theory that the agent was simply buying a stadium tour as a Christmas present for his client.
However, it remains unclear whether a cut-price deal is being organised for an immediate transfer in the January window, or if Barça are lining up the Arsenal man on a free for the 2021/22 campaign.
Mustafi joined the Gunners in 2016 for a whopping £35m, but his time in the capital has been nothing short of a disaster. A string of high-profile errors led to the 28-year-old becoming renowned as a liability at the back for Arsenal, and his poor form this year has restricted him to only two league appearances.
He did feature in Arsenal's Carabao Cup quarter-final clash with Manchester City, in which he picked up a yellow card and conceded four goals, as the Gunners crashed out in limp circumstances.
Source : 90min