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Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi is said to have rejected an offer of a new contract with the Gunners, with his desire being to move on at the end of the season.
Football London have said that Mustafi has informed Arsenal about his desire to leave the club when his current contract expires at the end of this season. If he does leave, it will bring to an end a five-year spell at Arsenal, after he was signed by Arsene Wenger in 2016.
Even in the most recently concluded transfer window, Mustafi was linked with several other clubs, as Arsenal were ready to sell the German. None of those moves materialised, but there was plenty of interest, including from Serie A, where the German international is said to be most interested in moving to.
Mustafi prefers move from Arsenal to Italy
It is now being reported that Arsenal did offer Mustafi the opportunity to extend his contract in the summer, but he denied it. It did come as a surprise that Mustafi was even offered a contract, given that Arsenal reinforced the centre-back position this summer, with the signings of Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba and Pablo Mari.
Those additions might have also been a reason for Mustafi to turn down the offer of a new contract, given that his already dwindling game time would be even more challenged by those additions to the Arsenal squad.
Mustafi is reported to be preferring a move to Italy, due to its proximity with Switzerland where his wife's family lives.
With the additions that Arsenal made to their squad over the summer, Mustafi is not among the top four centre-backs for Mikel Arteta to choose from. Even Kieran Tierney has been selected for the central defensive role ahead of Mustafi.
Only this weekend, due to injuries to Mari, Rob Holding and David Luiz, Mustafi made his first Premier League appearance of the season.
He was the subject of criticism after the game, though, as it was his bad defending that led to Leicester City scoring their winning goal.
Mustafi didn't track the run of Jamie Vardy, who was free in the box, before being found by Cengiz Under to score Leicester's winner, and condemn Arsenal to their third Premier League loss in six games.
