Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi has claimed criticism of him has got ‘out of hand’ in some places during his time at the club.
The German defender arrived at the Emirates in a big-money move from Valencia four years ago as Arsene Wenger looked to bolster his defence.
After an encouraging start, things soon started to spiral downwards for the German, who has struggled to establish himself as a Premier League defender.
That has seen him often coming in for criticism from the Arsenal faithful, who have not held back their opinions when it comes to the German centre back.
And he admits this is something he sees, and it’s something which affects him more than people realise.
“Through social media, you can hear everything, you can no longer protect yourself so well from criticism or insults,” he told SportBild.
“Then you read things that hurt you. That’s pretty out of hand in places. But as a professional athlete, you have to be able to handle it.
“I’m my biggest critic – I watch my games and am rarely satisfied.
“I know exactly when I can do something better and when not. If others criticise, that’s perfectly okay, and I’ll take it. If it’s an unfair criticism, I try to ignore it.”
It’s not just the fanbase that Mustafi has found himself a target for, with pundits and ex-players also calling him out on more than one occasion.
The most prominent example of this was former Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Petit, who labelled the defender as the “King of Blunders” in a famous rant.
That came as something of a surprise for Mustafi, who admits he thought a fellow professional would be more understanding.
“You could expect more understanding from some ex-players and today’s TV experts,” he added.
“In their career, they have certainly not always done everything right either. You should actually be able to understand it and perhaps not hit it with the smallest mistake.
“But you can’t expect everything to work out the way you want it to.”
