Shkodran Mustafi offered up a robust defence of Arsenal and their character as he insisted he had never come close to leaving the Gunners.

A £35million signing from Valencia last summer, Mustafi was the subject of surprising speculation, denied in forthright terms by chief executive Ivan Gazidis last month, that he could leave the club in the summer.

At the time Arsenal offered no denial to the links with Inter, who confirmed they had made a move for the World Cup winner, though Arsene Wenger subsequently said that Mustafi wanted to stay at the Emirates.

Mustafi’s assessment of his summer transfer saga was more vigorous.

“You like to get the s***, the biggest s***,” he said. “What happens in the changing room is the real thing.

“I have been talking to clubs or if I haven’t, it’s only rumours. I’m here, I’m standing in front of you in an Arsenal shirt.”

The centre-back is not the only Arsenal star who spent the summer dealing with transfer conjecture.

Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez’s reluctance to sign new contracts as they headed into what, as it stands, will be their final season at Arsenal dominated the agenda around north London and continues to do so.

Wenger told Standard Sport after Saturday’s 2-0 win over Tottenham, where Mustafi, Ozil and Sanchez were in fine form, that he expected the attacking duo to stay due to their “love” of the club.

“You want everyone to leave don’t you?” Mustafi said. “We need the players, not everyone can leave. Obviously they are important and everyone in the team wants them to stay.

“If you look at what Mesut achieved, you have to give him credit and respect. It’s sometimes stupid to just go out and say ‘he’s not good enough, he’s not this or that’.”

The win over Tottenham moved Arsenal within a point of their local rivals and the Champions League places whilst also dampening the debate over a “power shift” in north London.

“As always, Arsenal is dead, Arsenal is not coming back,” Mustafi added.

“We always are alive, we always believe in ourselves but we all know that if you win the big games but lose the small games you’re not going to finish top of the league or even in the top four. If you win today and lose next weekend you are back where you were.”