Pundit still can’t understand why Arsenal signed ‘really bad’ £30m player back in 2016

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Arsenal have had some transfer shockers over the years.

You don’t need us to run you through some of the biggest flops the Gunners have had. The likes of Igors Stepanovs, Sebastien Squilacci and Andre Santos probably still haunt Arsenal fans’ nightmares to this day.

Indeed, Arsenal have had their fair share of transfer shockers, and perhaps the biggest waste of cash in the modern era was Shkodran Mustafi.

The German defender was truly terrible against Arsenal, and ahead of the Gunners’ game against Crystal Palace this weekend, Adrian Clarke has been reminiscing over a mistake Mustafi famously made against the Eagles a few years ago.

Speaking on the Handbrake Off Podcast, Clarke spoke about Mustafi, and he says that while he doesn’t want to go too hard on the players, he still can’t understand why the Gunners signed him all those years ago.

Mustafi a baffling signing

Clarke spoke about the £30m man.

“Yeah, Mustafi. I mean, oh, I just don’t know what we were thinking when we signed Mustafi. I don’t want to diss players, but he was really bad most of the time wasn’t he?” Clarke said.

Looked good at the time

It’s easy to say in hindsight that Mustafi was a ridiculous signing, but at the time it looked like a really shrewd move.

Let’s not forget, Mustafi arrived at Arsenal in 2016 as a World Cup winner who has performed very well at Valencia during his time in La Liga.

Unfortunately, he never found any sort of form in north London, and he’s been consigned to the history books as something of a joke figure at the Emirates.

Mustafi was poor for Arsenal, and sadly, he has to go down as one of the worst signings the Gunners have made over the past decade or so.

Luckily, Arsenal’s defensive issues are long behind them now as William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes form one of the best centre-back partnerships in the Premier League.