World Cup winner Shkodran Mustafi once said Everton 'feels like home' but he played just 14 minutes for the club. The German defender was part of the 2014 World Cup-winning squad despite his limited action at Goodison Park.
A Brief Everton Career
Mustafi managed just 14 minutes of first-team football at Everton in a European dead rubber. Less than five years after his solitary outing as a substitute for the Blues, he had a World Cup winners' medal with Germany.
Born in Bad Hersfield, Hesse to a Macedonian Albanian family, Mustafi had spells with local side FC Bebra, SV Rotenburg and Hamburg in youth football before joining Everton's academy in 2009.
Turning down offers from Manchester City and Newcastle United, he'd later state 'Goodison Park feels like home' but despite being a German international at various age group levels, he was unable to force his way into David Moyes' plans. It was only when the Blues had secured qualification from their group in the UEFA Europa League in the 2009/10 season as runners-up behind Benfica that Mustafi made his way into a matchday squad.
Despite the manager making nine changes from their previous fixture – a 3-3 draw at Chelsea – and handing debuts to Merseysiders Jake Bidwell and Adam Forshaw plus goalkeeper Carlo Nash in his starting line-up at home to BATE Borisov, Mustafi was named on the bench and did not enter the fray until just after Alyaksandr Yurevich had netted the only goal of the game for the Belarusian outfit when he replaced captain for the night, Tony Hibbert. He was subsequently among the substitutes on a further nine occasions over the next two seasons but never took to the field again.
Move to Italy and World Cup Glory
Mustafi was released by Everton after asking manager Moyes to allow him to move on for more game time and in January 2012, he joined Italian Serie B side Sampdoria on a free transfer. Although he didn't make his debut for the Genoa-based outfit until May 26 and was out of the side again for their promotion play-offs, the following season he became more of a regular in the top flight.
The 2013/14 campaign proved to be a dramatic breakthrough season for Mustafi as he cemented his place at the heart of Sampdoria's defence and worked his way into Joachim Low's Germany squad. Despite only making his full international debut against Poland on May 13, Mustafi featured as a substitute for his country's opening World Cup fixture in Brazil a month later.
Coming on for the last 17 minutes as a right-back, he helped his side thrash Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal 4-0 in Salvador and then played the entire second half of the 2-2 draw against Ghana in Fortaleza. Although Mustafi was back on the bench for the 1-0 victory over the USA in the final group game in Recife, he was drafted into the starting line-up for their second-round tie against Algeria in Porto Alegre.
Germany, much-maligned back home, eventually squeezed through 2-1 after extra-time but Mustafi made way for Sami Khedira after 70 minutes with a torn muscle fibre injury in his left thigh that would keep him sidelined for the rest of the tournament. He therefore had to watch on as his team-mates defeated France 1-0 in the quarter-finals in Rio de Janeiro; Brazil 7-1 in the semi-final in Belo Horizonte and then Argentina 1-0 after extra-time in the final back at the Maracana.
Later Career and Retirement
Mustafi's injury proved no barrier to the continued upturn in his fortunes and later that summer, he joined Valencia. Then on August 30, 2016 he made a triumphant return to the Premier League with a £35million transfer to Arsenal. Mustafi spent the next four seasons at the Emirates Stadium, making 151 appearances and scoring nine goals.
He spent the second half of the 2020/21 season back in Germany with Schalke as a replacement for Ozan Kabak, who had been loaned to Liverpool, before embarking on a second spell in Spain with Valencia's neighbours Levante. After suffering relegation in 2022, he spent prolonged periods on the treatment table before being released in 2023 and retiring the following year to become assistant coach of Germany's U17s national team.
