Karma’s a bitch and life will surely catch up with you!

Karma has paid Shkodran Mustafi for his woeful performances for the club after being left out of Germany’s Joachim Low preliminary squad for World Cup tournament in Russia.

Mustafi was part of the squad that won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil for Germany with 20 international appearances has not played for the Die Mannschaft since August 2017.

Mustafi, who has also be deployed on the right-back by Low, missed friendlies with the likes of England and France throuh injury but missed out in Germany’s recent squad.

It could be said Mustafi has paid the price for a woeful season with Arsenal, where has been the subject of intense criticism for indifferent displays that have seen him make costly errors against the likes of Southampton and Newcastle United.

Germany will be heading to Russia with no room for their 2014 match-winning star Mario Gotze in the squad. Mustafi’s Arsenal team-mate Mesut Ozil is included in the squad, as is Chelsea centre-back Antonio Rudiger.

Low’s 27-man party, which will have to be trimmed by four on June 4 at the latest, contains few surprises. Freiburg striker Nils Petersen is the stand-out name; the 29-year-old has not been capped at senior level.

Manuel Neuer has also been included in the squad despite having been sidelined since September with a broken foot.

Germany’s preliminary World Cup squad

Goalkeepers:

Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Kevin Trapp (Paris Saint-Germain)

Defenders:

Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, Joshua Kimmich, Niklas Sule (Bayern Munich) Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Monchengladbach), Jonas Hector (Cologne), Marvin Plattenhardt (Hertha Berlin), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen)

Midfielders/Forwards:

Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Julian Draxler (Paris Saint-Germain), Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart), Ilkay Gundogan, Leroy Sane (Manchester City), Sami Khedira (Juventus), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Thomas Muller, Sebastian Rudy (Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal), Nils Petersen (Freiburg), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Timo Wener (RB Leipzig)

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