Playing For Everton Was My Worst Experience - Mustafi

Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi has described his spell at Everton as the worst experience of his football career.

Mustafi was at Everton as a youngster between May 2009 and January 2012 but was restricted to just one competitive appearance for the first-team before he joined Sampdoria.

The Germany international admitted that he felt he would never return to England but was grateful for the opportunity to join Arsenal last summer.

Mustafi told the club’s official website: “To be honest at the beginning I thought I was done with England because it was really frustrating [at Everton] and probably the worst time I had as a footballer.

“I didn’t want to go there again but then when it came down to making a decision to stay or leave, I thought I would only leave Valencia if I had the opportunity to go to England.

Shkodran Mustafi made 193 defensive actions in the Premier League last season.

“I was thankful that I had another opportunity to make a step forward by coming to Arsenal. For the rest of my life, I don’t want to be patient anymore.”

Mustafi had a mixed first season at Arsenal as he produced some encouraging performances but also made some costly mistakes.

Comfortable in possession, Mustafi was successful with 82% of the passes that he attempted in the Premier League last season, while he averaged seven defensive actions per game.

After helping Germany to win the Confederations Cup Mustafi missed all of Arsenal’s pre-season fixtures and only returned to training on Sunday. As a consequence, the 25-year-old may not be deemed fit enough to start when Arsenal take on Chelsea in the Community Shield on Sunday.