Lately, Shkodran Mustafi has been playing, well, pretty terrible on the field. However, Arteta has pardoned him by saying that he could have a future with Arsenal – provided he improves his form.
“When he is my player and when he is training with me the way he does every day, of course,” said Arteta.
“The plans maybe in the summer were different with him. I came here, he is here and his attitude is always right and he wants to help.
“Yes he made a mistake, but it’s OK. I like more the reaction and I look more at the reaction.”
While Arteta acknowledges Mustafi has been at fault at times, he says the most important thing is the 27-year-old is not cowed by his errors.
“I don’t believe that at 27 you cannot improve certain aspects of the game; I really believe you can,” said Arteta. “I work with players like this and I have team-mates like this and there is always a moment where there is a click.
“I can accept a mistake, no problem. What I’m not going to accept is somebody makes a mistake and after he stops playing, and he doesn’t want the ball and doesn’t want to make decisions. That player is not acceptable for our team.
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