Mustafi began his career in the youth ranks ofHamburger SV and English clubEverton, where he made one substitute appearance for them before leaving toSampdoria in January 2012. He signed a five-year deal atValencia in August 2014, and moved toArsenal for a reported £35 million two years later. He played 151 games for Arsenal. He later returned to theBundesliga withSchalke 04 andLa Liga withLevante.
Mustafi was born inBad Hersfeld, Hesse,[4] to aMacedonian Albanian family originally fromGostivar in the formerYugoslavia.[5] Mustafi started his career in the youth system of local 1. FC Bebra, and had a stint with SV Rotenburg, before joiningHamburger SV's youth setup in 2006.[6]
Mustafi made his competitive debut on 16 December 2009, replacingTony Hibbert in the 75th minute of a 0–1 home loss againstBATE Borisov, forthe season'sUEFA Europa League.[9] He was also named on the bench for thePremier League matches againstArsenal and Manchester City in January. Mustafi only appeared on the bench nine times in the following two campaigns, but never played in any further matches.[10]
In January 2012, Mustafi moved to ItalianSerie B sideSampdoria, on afree transfer.[11] Mustafi was released by Everton after he asked manager David Moyes to allow him to move on for more game time.[12]
Mustafi made hisSamp debut on 26 May 2012, starting and playing the full 90 minutes of a 1–3 loss atVarese.[13] It was his maiden appearance in the competition, as Sampdoria returned toSerie A at first attempt. He made his debut in theItalian top flight on 11 November 2012, starting in a 0–2 loss atPalermo.[14]
On 26 October of the following year he scored his first professional goal, netting the game's only againstAtalanta at theStadio Luigi Ferraris.[15]
On 7 August 2014, Mustafi signed a five-year deal withLa Liga'sValencia CF, for an undisclosed fee,[16] rumoured to be €8 million.[17] He debuted for his new team on 25 September, againstCórdoba in an eventual 3–0 home win.[18] A month later, he scored his first goal for the team, opening a 3–1 home win overElche.[19] In Valencia's next match on 2 November, against another regional rival,Villarreal, Mustafi scored a brace in a 3–1 away win to put Valencia into second place in the league.[20]
On 3 March 2016, Mustafi received a straight red card in the first half of Valencia's 7–0 loss atBarcelona in the first leg of theCopa del Rey semi-final, after conceding a penalty with a foul onLionel Messi. He then pleaded for the team's forgiveness by theChe supporters.[21]
On 30 August 2016, Mustafi joined English clubArsenal for an undisclosed fee, reported to be in excess of £35 million.[22][23] He made his debut in Arsenal's 2–1 Premier League win overSouthampton at theEmirates Stadium on 10 September.[24] Mustafi beatBacary Sagna's record unbeaten start of 17 games at the club in Arsenal's 3–3 draw againstBournemouth with his 18th game without defeat.[25] On 22 January 2017, he scored his first goal for the club in a home 2–1 league win overBurnley.[26] Because of illness, he missed Arsenal's 2–1 win overChelsea in the2017 FA Cup Final on 27 May.[27][28]
Mustafi was in the starting 11 againstManchester City in theEFL Cup final on 25 February 2018. He made a mistake in the 18th minute that allowedSergio Agüero to score the first goal of a 3–0 City win.[29] On 29 May 2019, he was an unused substitute in theEuropa Leaguefinal againstChelsea, in which Arsenal were defeated 4–1.[30] He missed the2020 FA Cup Final against the same team due to a hamstring injury, and Arsenal won 2–1.[31][32]
On 29 August 2020, Mustafi missed Arsenal's victory overLiverpool in the2020 FA Community Shield because of injury.[33][34] The following 1 February, Arsenal and Mustafi reached a mutual agreement to terminate his contract.[35] During his tenure at Arsenal, he developed a reputation for errors.[36][37]
On 1 February 2021, Mustafi joined German sideSchalke 04 on a permanent transfer.[38] He was reportedly signed as the replacement for Liverpool-boundOzan Kabak on a six-month contract.[39] He made his debut five days later in a 0–3 defeat againstRB Leipzig in theBundesliga.[40] He played 13 games for the team fromGelsenkirchen, scoring in a 4–2 loss atHoffenheim on 8 May.[41]
On 2 September 2021, Mustafi returned to the city ofValencia, joining La Liga clubLevante on a two-year deal.[42] He suffered from several injuries and made only 11 appearances as the team suffered relegation; this included three months with a knee injury from December to March 2022, followed by aquadriceps strain between April and July.[43][44] His one goal was the early opener in a 3–1 loss atReal Betis on 28 November 2021.[45] He was confirmed to have been released by the club on 10 July 2023 after his contract expired[46] and retired on 25 June 2024 to become the assistant coach of the German U17 national team, having not played senior football after leaving Levante.[47] In the four top-flights of Italy, England, Spain and Germany he amassed 240 league matches in his career.[48]
Joachim Löw called up Mustafi to theGermany national squad for a friendly match againstChile in February 2014,[52] he made his full international debut in a friendly match againstPoland, playing the full 90 minutes of a goalless draw at theVolksparkstadion on 13 May 2014.[53]
Mustafi was selected in Germany's 30-man provisional squad before the2014 FIFA World Cup by Löw. After initially not making the squad for the finals,[54] he was subsequently nominated as the replacement for the injuredMarco Reus.[55] He appeared as a substitute in Germany's opening World Cup game againstPortugal, coming on in the 73rd minute in place ofMats Hummels to win his secondcap.[56]
In the team's second match, he again came on as a substitute, replacingJérôme Boateng at half time againstGhana.[57] He was selected to start at right-back in Germany'sround of 16 match againstAlgeria, but was substituted in the 70th minute forSami Khedira due to an injury in his left thigh.[58] It was later confirmed by theDFB that Mustafi would take no further part in the World Cup due to the torn fibre muscle.[59]
Mustafi was also called up forUEFA Euro 2016. In Germany's opening match againstUkraine inLille, he headed a delivery fromToni Kroos to open a 2–0 win. That was his first goal for Germany.[60][61] He was also part of their squad that won the2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia,[62] but was omitted from thefollowing year's World Cup in the same country due to a poor season with Arsenal.[63] So his 20th international appearance from October 2017 was eventually his last one.[64]
Mustafi is an ethnicAlbanian fromGostivar,North Macedonia. He was born and grew up in Germany and holds both Albanian and German citizenship. Mustafi is a practisingMuslim.[66] In July 2016, he married Albanian modelVjosa Kaba inGostivar.[67] The couple have a daughter, Noemi (born in July 2017), and a son, Amar (born in January 2019).[68][69]
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