A former Arsenal star has retired from playing football and bagged a job as an Under-17s national team coach.
The defender, who also won the World Cup, revealed that coaching has been on the edges of his mind for a while.
At the age of 32, the former Germany international is relatively youthful for an elite footballer hanging up his boots.
However, he spent the entirety of last season as a free agent after leaving Levante, and was only able to make three outings in his final year at the Spanish side due to inury.
The player is none other than Shkodran Mustafi, who played for Arsenal between 2016 and 2021 and won the World Cup with Germany in 2014.
Former Arsenal star Shkodran Mustafi has bagged a coaching job immediately after retiring
The defender (top row, third from right) spent five seasons at the Emirates from 2016-2021
He was also part of the Germany squad that won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil
Mustafi has assumed the assistant manager role under Marc Meister at Germany’s Under-17s and will start on July 1.
He said: ‘I’ve been thinking about gaining experience as a coach for a while.
‘On the one hand, it’s a shame that it’s coming so soon because I would have liked to have played football myself for longer.
‘On the other hand, I’m really looking forward to the time ahead and to taking my first steps as a coach at the DFB.
‘I want to pass on all the experience I’ve gained during my time with the U15s, U21s and of course with the senior national team to the boys.’
Mustafi accumulated 20 caps for Germany over a three-year span between 2014 and 2017, picking a good time to break into Joachim Low’s set-up.
His main partner at Arsenal was Frenchman Laurent Koscielny, with Sead Kolasinac another common partner in crime, often as part of a back three.
Over the past year, he has been filling his time holidaying and posting videos of various training drills in a bid to find a new club, but nothing has materialised.
