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LONDON. — Shkodran Mustafi has opened up on how religion and being a Muslim has positive effects on his football. Arsenal’s summer signing was brought in for £35m from Valencia, and he’s settled quickly at the Emirates. The centre-half has immediately established himself as Laurent Koscielny’s partner in Arsene Wenger’s first XI.With Germany international team-mate Per Mertesacker still out injured, Mustafi has hardly put a foot wrong for the Gunners. The 24-year-old’s religion is an influential part of his life, and when a poor performance comes, Mustafi insists he has learned to cope with such disappointment.“My religion means so much to me and to my career,” Mustafi told The Sun. ‘‘It helps me so much. At the end of it all, I’m a person like any other who is on the Earth to strive for paradise.

“That is my main task. And if I play a c**p game it’s not the end of the world.” Mustafi has been an ever-present in the Premier League and Champions League since arriving late in August. And the Gunners have appeared far more solid since, conceding just three times in those six games. Arsenal’s new man has been selected for Germany’s international squad too over the current break, along with Mesut Ozil, and he is expected to start again when Wenger’s side face Swansea on October 15. Mustafi may or may not know that he is already being seen as the new Tony Adams of Arsenal.

What the £35million World Cup winner is bound to have seen, however, is the statue of Adams within the grounds of the Emirates that says all about his legendary status at the club. The former captain famously beat the bottle to make himself one of the most revered Gunners stars in history. Devout Muslim Mustafi had one battle with the bottle — which he lost — when a beer from a sponsor was placed in front of him during a press conference at former club Valencia. The German-born defender, who has Albanian parents, was not amused by the incident and refused to speak to the media until it had been removed. — The Sun.