Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi could be on his way to Barcelona in the January transfer window.
The 28-year-old wants to leave the Gunners on a free transfer when his contract expires in June and has already rejected an offer from the club, as exclusively revealed by football.london in October.
As a result, he will be able to speak with foreign clubs from January 1st, 2021 in regards to signing a pre-contract agreement.
Mustafi, who joined Arsenal in the summer of 2016 in a £35m deal from Valencia, has fallen down the pecking order at the Emirates Stadium this season, although he did start Tuesday night's Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat by Manchester City.
That could turn out to be one of his final appearances for the north London outfit as his agent, Emre Ozturk, has fuelled speculation regarding a shock move to Barcelona.
And it could happen as early as next month.
With the La Liga giants in need of a new central defender following an injury to Gerard Pique, they have been linked with a move for Mustafi to provide cover.
This has been confirmed by the German's agent who has revealed he was in Barcelona to discuss the Arsenal defender's future.
"I'm not in Barcelona because of Yusuf Demir, but because of Shkodran Mustafi from Arsenal, whom we also represent," Ozturk told SPOX, as per Sport Witness, when questioned about a recent post on Instagram showing him at the Camp Nou.
Interestingly, Barcelona are 5/4 with SkyBet to sign Mustafi in the January transfer window.
However, speaking earlier in the season, Mustafi insisted it would ‘mean a lot’ for him to stay at the Emirates.
"When I made a decision to sign for Arsenal it is because I respect this club," Mustafi said ahead of the Gunners’ Europa League win against Dundalk a couple of months ago. "It is a huge club, that’s why for me if I could stay at Arsenal, of course it would mean a lot to me. At the end of the day, it was important for me in the last three months to come back after the injury and to be ready to play and to help my team.
"When you hopefully get a few games, you can maybe look at the future but at the moment for me it has been difficult because in the last months, I haven’t really been thinking about the end of my contract or what’s going on with the future because all I wanted was to be back as quick as possible.
"I think I missed a few important games in the last months and I just wanted to be back as quick as possible, try and play a few games and then when the time comes, think about what’s next and hopefully we are going to have some news for you.
"At the moment I was just happy to come back from injury, it was three long months – I was happy just to come back and be able to play again.
"We haven’t been talking about anything so there isn’t anything I can tell you guys. Now for me it is important to just get a few games and get into the match rhythm and then see how it goes."
