Horrible news for Arsenal fans who will have deal with the fact that injuries have already started to affect the lot. According Sky Sports, Mertesacker will be unavailable for as long as 5 months meaning he could be in recovery until next year. “He played in Lens last Friday night, he finished the game and had a little pain in his knee. We found out the next day that it was much more serious than expected. – Wenger said. “He had surgery yesterday in Germany. It all went well. I know you will ask me for how long he will be out. I don’t know that, it’s months, but I don’t know how long he will be out for.” The Frenchman ended his statement by saying that Arsenal need to bring in someone with experience right now to replace the German international. He pointed towards a transfer as the current lot cannot provide a solution. Koscielny is still on vacation after Euro 2016, Gabriel is ill and will be back after he deals with the tonsillitis which is currently preventing him from playing and Chambers and newcomer Rob Holding are lacking experience.

The Gunners cannot carry on through an entire season with 2 defenders who can only be back-up by two England U21 players. Fortunately, Valencia might be throwing Arsenal a life-line in the form of German International Shkodran Mustafi. The Spanish side is having trouble balancing out its budget and the 24-year-old center-back is expected to be on his way out. Wenger will have to pay £20.9million for Mustafi which seems appropriate and which is in the Gunners’ average ball park.

The German World Cup winner can become a long-term solution for Arsenal who aside from looking for a striker were always looking to consolidate a defense that last season had to pair Koscielny with Monreal at times of injury. Mustafi is 24 years old, he has been playing in La Liga for a couple of years and has experience with Premier League football. He spent time playing for Everton’s youth squad before moving to Italy. Basically, as a defender he checks all the boxes for a successful future in the North Londoners squad. All that is left is for Arsenal to make a move before it is too late. The downside with all of this is that the chances of seeing a new striker at Emirates are dropping considerably. Having spent £40million on Xhaka and a possible £20million on Mustafi, Arsenal will be left with little to spend. Things are pointing towards another low-cost solution for the attack.