Mustafi: "I’m concentrating on my work"

Of all the players in Germany’s provisional World Cup squad, Shkodran Mustafi is probably the one German fans know the least about, and for good reason: for the past five years, Mustafi has been plying his trade outside Germany. The 22-year-old moved from Hamburg via Everton to Sampdoria, where he played himself into the Serie A outfit’s starting line-up and onto national coach Joachim Löw’s radar.

Mustafi is now in South Tyrol attending his first national training camp with Die Mannschaft. He spoke to reporter Steffen Lüdeke about the experience and his career to date.

DFB.de: Mr Mustafi, is it true that you own two cars and decide which one to drive depending on how well you last played for Sampdoria?

Shkodran Mustafi: Partly. I’ve got a sports car and a Smart. That’s because there are lots of narrow streets in Genoa and it’s not always easy to manoeuvre through them, so it makes sense to have a small car too. But it’s true that some players change their car when things aren’t going so well for them on the pitch. We also have very close contact with the fans in Genoa. For example, when we park at the training ground, we don’t have separate spaces for the players; we just park where everyone else parks, including the fans. For that reason it’s occasionally just common sense not to drive around in a big car.

DFB.de: You know both England and Italy, and you’ve spoken about the difference between their two styles of football on several occasions. How does the fans’ approach to the game differ between the two countries?

Mustafi: Fans in England aren’t just interested in the current situation; they’re more concerned about the development of their club. They see it as a success whenever a young player steps up to the first team and appreciate his potential for the future, which means they support him even if his first few performances aren’t great. In Italy, the supporters want instant success – they’re much more impatient – though in Genoa we’ve got great fans. The atmosphere in the stadium is always great, even if the match isn’t a sell-out.

DFB.de: You’re very popular with the Sampdoria fans – how did you manage this? Was it just based on your performances?

Mustafi: For fans in Italy, it’s important that you give everything on the pitch. You can lose, but you have it give it your all. As a defender, that means going into every tackle with complete commitment and never letting up, even if things aren’t going so well. I’ve always done that, and the supporters appreciate it.

DFB.de: Is the fans’ affection all the more important for you as an overseas player?

Mustafi: It’s definitely better than having the fans against you, but that still wouldn’t change my attitude. I’d always go out onto the pitch totally motivated even if the fans didn’t like me.

DFB.de: There have been three turning points in your career. At the age of 14, you moved from Bebra in Hesse to join HSV’s youth academy in Hamburg, then you left Germany to go to Everton, and now you’re in Genoa. Which change was the most difficult for you to make?

Mustafi: The most difficult step wasn’t any of those moments. The change that caused me the most problems was moving from FV Bebra to SV Rotenburg as a kid. It was also the only move my father had to persuade me to make. In Bebra, I played in the same team as all my friends and really didn’t want to leave them, but Rotenburg played a league higher than Bebra and my dad told me that I could only achieve my dream of becoming a professional footballer if I kept improving and took the next step. I overcame my fears and moved to the next town, but it was tough for me at the time.

DFB.de: Presumably everything after that was comparatively straightforward?

Mustafi: I wouldn’t go so far as to say that. (Laughs) There’s no doubt that the first step of leaving home was the hardest. When I left Hamburg, there were also a lot of players there that I got on really well with, but the friends you make in childhood are a different matter altogether. That’s why leaving home was a bigger step for me than moving from Hamburg to England or from England to Italy.

DFB.de: You took a winding route to achieve your dream of playing professional football, first leaving Hamburg and then Everton. Did you sometimes doubt whether your dream would really come true?

Mustafi: It was probably more a case of doubting the decisions you make. I left Hamburg because too many things didn’t fit for me there. I moved to Everton because they showed me a fresh perspective at that point, but after two years there I was already wondering whether leaving Germany had been the right step. However, it was never true that I was about to give up, either in Hamburg or at Everton. Although I never played in the starting line-up there, I was at Everton! Just the thought that I’d come from a village club and was now at a Premier League club was enough to keep me motivated, so I always kept fighting and tried to settle down and establish myself there.

DFB.de: Your next step took you to Genoa, where you have since become an undisputed Serie A regular. How much of that is down to the coach, Sinisa Mihajlovic?

Mustafi: I’ve experienced quite a bit in Genoa: second-division football, different systems, different coaches and different ideas. But then along came Mihajlovic, a coach I could really identify with, both in terms of his ideas about football and his tactics. Under his leadership, my strengths really came to the fore. His arrival at the club was very important for us. The team has flourished and now we have a playing style of our own.

DFB.de: You have Albanian roots and Mihajlovic is Serbian. Have you ever discussed this together?

Mustafi: Not really. He’s a coach and I’m a player, and our origins have nothing to do with that. For me, a person’s nationality has never been relevant. We’re in football, where only your sporting ability should decide whether or not you play.

DFB.de: How strong a connection do you have with Albania?

Mustafi: Very strong. I speak the language and part of my family still lives in Albania. I go there to visit them regularly, and it’s always a pleasure to be there.

DFB.de: As a footballer, you earn a lot of money and lead a charmed life, but in Albania you’re confronted with great poverty. How difficult is it to strike a balance between these two worlds?

Mustafi: One great benefit of my visits to Albania is that it keeps my feet on the ground. In football there’s always the danger of becoming detached from the real world. We live in luxury in a world that has nothing to do with what most people experience. My visits to Albania have expanded my horizons as I see what real life looks like. Every time I go there I sense how important that is.

DFB.de: You might be the only German in the Sampdoria squad but you’re not the only one from Hesse. Roberto Soriano was born in Darmstadt and grew up in Germany but opted to play for the Italian national side. How much has he helped you to settle in Italy?

Mustafi: He’s more of a brother than a friend to me now. He gave me incredible support right from the start. I don’t know if everything would have gone so smoothly if he hadn’t been there. He did everything with me; he even came to the bank and went through the piles of paperwork with me. When I arrived in Italy I couldn’t do anything; I didn’t speak a word of Italian and didn’t know anyone. It was ideal to have him looking out for me.

DFB.de: Have you already worked out when Germany might meet Italy at the World Cup?

Mustafi: He always teases me that Italy have won all their important matches against Germany over the last few years. Unfortunately that’s true, so I can’t fire any comebacks at him. But it’s all good-natured fun between us. We’ve kept in touch over the last few days too, and I get a sense that he’s truly happy that I have a chance to go to the World Cup.

DFB.de: How concerned are you about being one of the three players that has to be left out of the final World Cup squad?

Mustafi: So far, I’ve been very good at not thinking about all the eventualities of who, what, where, when and how. I’m trying to put in good performances here and understand what the coach is asking of me. I’m also trying to manage the fact that this is already a dream come true, and that’s not easy. Everything’s been rushing by in a blur recently; all of a sudden you’re there and you have hardly any time to enjoy it all. I’ll leave it to others to speculate – I’m concentrating on my work on the pitch, and that’s keeping me fully occupied.

DFB.de: How great is the difference between what coach Mihajlovic expects from you in Genoa and what the national coach Joachim Löw wants?

Mustafi: To be honest, it’s largely the same. They’re both coaches who want to play football from the back to the front. They don’t want to play long balls; they’re always looking to find playing solutions. But there are differences too. Mihajlovic is a coach who lets us play risky football. He lets us press forward constantly, which means we often end up in one-on-one situations at the back. The national team play an attacking brand of football too, but they don’t take such big risks in defence. There’s a greater emphasis on defending in numbers and always having reinforcements.

DFB.de: The training camp is not yet over but it is now drawing to a close. How would you summarise the experience?

Mustafi: For me, it’s fantastic to be here. Spending time with the national team gives you a lot to take away with you. You play and train with incredibly skilled players who have won major titles, and that’s just an amazing experience.