Another Arsenal bid goes in – report

TFF can’t work out whether this is more annoying for the fans or the selling club, but Arsenal are said to have made what looks like a pretty derisory bid for a top target.

The Daily Mail reports:

Arsenal have £15m bid for Shkodran Mustafi rejected by Valencia

After tabling a bid for Alexandre Lacazette last week, which was way below the valuation that Lyon have of the player, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has thrown a very small amount at the latest move.

Lest we forget, this is a Germany international who is still 3 years from coming into his prime.

The 6ft centre back has played 12 times for Germany since his debut in 2014, despite having to fight it out with the established figures of Benedikt Howedes and Mats Hummels.

We couldn’t agree more with Wenger’s ostensible notion that the money side of the game has gone crazy over the last few years.

But transfers fees have gone up in a proportionate manner to revenue from TV and we don’t see Wenger moaning about that income.

Furthermore, Arsenal simply have to make a decision about whether they want to properly compete or not.

We can’t see how another, say, £7m for Shkodran Mustafa would break the bank – Arsenal would likely have to pay at least that anyway – and it would give the club a far bigger chance to get the deal done quickly. This is a defender who would a sell-on value too, such his his age.

But we can’t help but think that offers like this are counterproductive. Not only does it give other clubs the time to get involved in the auction but it could easily be seen as rather insulting for Valencia, who won’t want to lose the player, but may eventually buckle to a proper offer.

With other elite English clubs looking for centre-backs this summer, we do hope that Arsenal show some ruthlessness on this one – either they really want the player or they don’t.