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REVEALED: How Arsenal used Kostas Manolas as a pawn to sign Shkodran Mustafi

The Gunners quick-thinking negotiating team managed to sign the German for almost £15 million less than his asking price

SPECIAL REPORT

Arsenal were in negotiations with Roma over signing Kostas Manolas last summer, and used the defender as a pawn to sign Shkdoran Mustafi, Goal can reveal.

The Gunners spent several weeks scouring Europe for a new centre-back after Per Mertesacker was ruled out for five months with a serious knee injury, before eventually signing Mustafi from Valencia, following protracted negotiations.

However, Mustafi’s transfer wasn’t easy to negotiate after Los Che set an asking price of £50million for the 23-year-old defender, and Arsenal were forced to call the Spanish giants' bluff by putting in a bid for another highly-rated centre-back — Roma stopper Kostas Manolas.