Valencia to cash in as Gabriel’s 2 months out means Arsenal must have Mustafi

It could have been worse for Arsenal I suppose, but you have to admit that losing another central defender in the final game of pre-season, especially in injury time which they do not usually play in these friendly games, is just about typical of our terrible luck.

So despite Gabriel himself posting a positive sounding update on Instagram, reported here at Just Arsenal earlier, it appears that the Brazilian may have been a little too positive as BBC Sport have reported that our player is going to miss about the first two months of the season.

They say it could be as little as six weeks but with training to get him match fit I think we should expect a couple of months at the minimum before he can play again. So what now for Arsene Wenger? Well he was already talking about the need for another experienced centre back before Gabriel’s injury so it must be absolutely imperative now.

Squawka.com say we are now going full bore for the transfer of the Valencia and Germany international star Shkodran Mustafi but surely the Spanish club will realise how desperate the Gunners are and will now hold all the cards and probably hold out for more than the £20 million that was being talked about in Arsenal transfer rumours last week.

Why did Arsenal not just get the deal done as soon as possible?