Mustafi hopes ´brilliant´ Sanchez can stay at Arsenal

Shkodran Mustafi is hopeful Alexis Sanchez will remain at Arsenal but admits he has no idea what his team-mate’s next move will be.

Star forward Sanchez has been heavily linked with a move away from Emirates Stadium to Manchester City, while Bayern Munich has also been flagged as another potential destination for his talents.

Mustafi faced off against the Chile forward when his Germany drew 1-1 with the Copa America holders in the Confederations Cup on Thursday, Sanchez opening the scoring before Lars Stindl levelled for Die Mannschaft.

The new contract purported to be on the table for the 28-year-old was not a topic of discussion for the duo in Kazan and Mustafi concedes he and his other colleagues are in much the same helpless position as the Arsenal fanbase at this moment in time.

“I have no idea. Obviously the other players cannot make that decision, he has to make that decision,” the centre-back told Omnisport after Germany booked a semi-final tie against Mexico with a 3-1 win over 10-man Cameroon in Sochi.

“I’m not too much involved. I hope he stays because he is a really brilliant football player but there’s nothing in my hands that I can do.”

 

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A post shared by Alexis Sanchez (@alexis_officia1) on Jun 18, 2017 at 7:11am PDT

FIFA’s Video Assistant Referee system was again under the microscope at Fisht Stadium on Sunday, with Cameroon defender Ernest Mabouka having his high lunge on Emre Can punished by a red card on review, although referee Wilmar Roldan initially gave midfielder Sebastien Siani his marching orders before being informed of his error as confusion reigned.

Mustafi was an unused substitute and counted himself as one of the perplexed masses.

“I don’t know what was going on. I don’t want to get involved too much in that because I didn’t see what the referee saw on the TV,” he explained, echoing a stance often famously taken by his club boss Arsene Wenger.

“I didn’t see the situation so it’s difficult for me to get involved in that.”