According to Egyptian football specialists KingFut, the initial fee Arsenal paid to FC Basel for Mohamed Elneny was over £10 million; a figure far in excess of €4-7million quoted widely in the press.
The revelation comes via Yahia Aly, an agent close to the deal, who also explained that the Gunners – as Arsene Wenger admitted earlier – had been tracking the player for the best part of a year.
“Arsenal initially started their contact around eight months ago,” Aly told KingFut.
“I assure you, the fee is much higher than that what’s reported.
He continued: “I am just pleased and proud that this is the second biggest deal in Egypt’s history that I am involved in after Mohamed Salah’s transfer to Chelsea.”
The broker also admitted that the Gunners weren’t the only European club tracking Elneny’s progress in Switzerland: “I can not confirm which clubs were interested, but I can tell you that there was contact from Germany’s Bundesliga and France’s Ligue 1.”
KingFut believe the fee was in part inflated due to a 15% sell-on fee owed to Egyptian club Arab Contractors who sold Elneny to Basel in 2013.
A report in The Mirror that the player might have to undertake national service at some point during his Arsenal career was also dismissed with the midfielder apparently exempt as he’s registered as a student in Egypt’s Ministry of Education.
On his Facebook page Elneny today posted a thank you to Arsenal strength and conditioning coach, Sam Wilson, who has apparently spent the last couple of weeks keeping the midfielder fit while his move was being finalised.
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All in all, interesting stuff from KingFut. Worth a follow on Twitter if you want a daily Elneny fix.
That’s cool
KingFut! Lovely name…
Awesome name
Not bothered about the fee providing he turns out to be a good player!
That’s because you didn’t have to pay it.
Ramen noodles the rest of the month for you after splashing out, eh?!
Also… £…€…CHF…..not the same. The fee of £7m was MUCH HIGHER in currencies worth less than the pound.
True. But if kungfut are right then we’re still talking £20m
?El. Neyney. May have cost lots of money, don’t you worry.?
Much higher? The way transfers have been going I was expecting you to say more in the 20-30m range. Teams have been paying more than 10m for 15yo “starlets”
We got our man, f**k the rest.
I think a big ounce of respect needs to paid to the Arsenal back room staff. there’s so much shit that goes on that we don’t know about, and with everyone wanting immediate transfers, I hope people can take a look at this and see how much work is involved in getting some of these over the line. fact that he was already getting fit and working with our staff weeks ago just shows you they aren’t just sitting around with their thumbs up their arses although many supporters want to portray our dealings as such.
Who cares about the fee? Only concerned about what He will add to the team
8 months in the works? So this isn’t a panic buy?
Too early in the month to be a panic buy.
Damn soo many thumbs down!Obviously y’all need a sarcasm meter!
Sarcas’ o’meter actually
If he turns out to be as good as I think he will that fee will look like spare change in comparison to other transfers of same age experience and position players. His statistics are phenomenal for someone playing in CDM/BTB position. And even €10-€12 mln is a bargain.
Like the fee for Kos or Giroud
Broker? Arab Contractors? The directness is refreshing 🙂
The fact our fanbase will Prob prefer the fact he cost more money tells you everything you need to know about that particular moronic minority.
I’m having difficulty deciphering your comment. To me it looks like “our fanbase = moronic minority.”
Who cares man..as long as Arsene buys to fill up the gaps.. We know Arsenal hv the money
Good news because we will win fuck all with Ramsey in centre midfield
Like two successive FA Cups, one of which he scored the winner in?
Can’t help but, think that Elneny was signed to actually partner Rambo and bring out his strengths. It doesn’t look like Wenger has any intention of curtailing Rambo’s attacking streak…
I’d agree with that, certainly wasn’t signed to partner Arteta or Flamini.
Not that I dislike Arteta or Flamini, but Elneny has clearly been bought for now and the future rather than as a stop-gap.
Agreed. Elneny will be starting games pretty quickly I suspect. Flambo is far too open and I think Wenger recognises this.
To the tune of Bee Gees “Tragedy”
El-neny!
When Santi’s gone
And you can’t go on
There’s El-neny!
When the Coq’s gone bye
And you don’t know why.
I realise i nicked the tune from Tomasz Radzinski’s song at everton, but i felt compelled to offer an alternative to that oft-mooted and horrid “watch me whip and El nae nae” terrace chant
Don’t get all this negative Ramsey rhetoric. What’s the guy got to do?
Anyway, back on topic. Welcome Elneny! Hopefully competition with the Coq will get the best out of both of you.
That agent sounds fishy
bravo to the entire team for such a deal to happen nothing more dan good work
One pays for quality.
Excited about our new chap!
COYG!
Maybe it’s higher, maybe it’s not. What isn’t in doubt, however, is that it is in the professional interests of Aly to claim or have it be as high as possible.
Still 1/4 of Mangala’s.
Most reasonable fans dont have an issue about player prices as long as we have a dlgood player. In other topic this could be arsenals line up vs stoke. Cech, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Flamini, Ramsey, Ozil, Walcott, Campbell, Giroud. subs Macey/Ospina, Gabriel, Gibbs, Elneny, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alexis, Chambers. That is without Santi, Coquilen, Wilshere, Arteta, Welbeck, Rosicky and Debuchy. If that isnt Depth I dont know what is. This gotta be our year.
Believe the agents…
Look around the eye not in the eye
Not saying it’s bullshit just that it could be in his interests to hype this up a tad
I think the Egyptian football specialists should change around the 2 components of their name. Much more interesting.
If this post appears immediately then all is good, if not I have no choice but to go,,,,x
My delays in postings is like kicking a football and it deflates every time …so got to go…enjoy this lovely site. Paul x
The amount of the transfer fee does matter since it’s taken into account in the appeals process if a player doesn’t qualify for a work permit via the usual means, required number of appearances for their national team. There is a formula but basically if the fee is over 10£, a player will qualify.