- Former Arsenal star takes up assistant coaching role with Under-17 national team
- The 32-year-old struggled with injuries last season and was unable to find a club.
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The former Arsenal star has retired from football to become coach of the U-17 national team.
The World Cup-winning defender revealed that he had been thinking about coaching for some time.
At 32, the former Germany international is a relatively young player to retire as a top-flight footballer.
However, he spent the entirety of last season as a free agent after leaving Levante, and injuries limited him to just three appearances in his final year with the Spanish side.
That player is none other than Shkodran Mustafi, who played for Arsenal from 2016 to 2021 and won the World Cup with Germany in 2014.
Mustafi will take up the role of assistant manager under Germany U-17 coach Marc Meister and will take up the post on July 1.
He said: “I’ve been thinking about gaining coaching experience for some time now.”
“On the other hand, I wanted to play football for longer so it’s a shame it has to end so soon.
“On the one hand, I am really looking forward to the time ahead and to taking my first steps as a coach at the DFB.
“I want to pass on to the boys all the experience I have gained with the U-15s, U-21s and of course the senior national team.”
Mustafi won 20 caps for Germany over a three-year period between 2014 and 2017 and came at the perfect time to join Joachim Löw’s side.
His main partner at Arsenal was Frenchman Laurent Koscielny, with Sead Kolasinac also his mutual partner and often part of a back three.
He has spent the past year taking time off and posting various training videos in an attempt to find a new club, but nothing has materialised.