Arsene Wenger has revealed that the club had been tracking the progress of Mohamed Elneny for a year before splashing the cash for him.
The Egyptian midfielder signed for the Gunners from FC Basel yesterday, and the Arsenal manager spoke about how he’d been on the scouting radar for a long-time beforehand.
“We watched him for a year now,” he said. “We have looked at him in many games. We feel that every year he has improved and his age is very interesting.”
It’s understood that the 23 year old was a player the club would have moved for in the summer, but due to the injury crisis in midfield, that was expedited to bring him in sooner, a move that has left the Frenchman happy he’s got his man.
“I’m very pleased because I started in December to be ready at the beginning of January because I knew that position was a priority,” he said.
Meanwhile, Wenger has played down fears that a potential transfer ban for both Madrid clubs could see them raid the Premier League for top talent.
“I thought about that when I heard the news, but straight away they will appeal.
“The appeal will cancel the ban and they’ll be allowed to buy in the next two windows like before. That’s what will happen.”
If he says it, who are we to doubt him?
Not really surprising,
it may not seem like it at times but it’s rare we sign someone without scouting them for several months, or years
Kim kallstrom surely hadn’t been scouted for at least 15 years 🙂
Wenger knew him since Championship Manager 0102
No need to doubt the professor
The guy really knows. ..
AW is right. The appeal gives the affected clubs enough time to get things in order. The one year ban really is a slap on the wrist for clubs of that size and stature and doesn’t do anything to deter them from carrying out further football ‘atrocities’. Elneny must have been watched a bazillion times in the space of that one year. That’s the way le prof rolls.
Great bit of business. Having said thay should be a little more proactive with buying rotation players. Gabriel was a great purchase but he came when koscielny was injured. Same here. With koscielny, he was not 100% post world cup when he returned but we waited until an injury and January. Now there’s an experienced 6’4 24yo cb in Joel Matip. He’s going to be out of contract in the summer. Mertesacker is not injury prone, but imagine how weak we would be against the likes of lukaku and benteke or heck, even set pieces without him. He’s also going… Read more »
We need to improve on Big Mert. Love the guy and everything he has done for the club, but he scares me. I know I will get a lot of down votes but as a fan watching the game, BFG just doesn’t give me peace of mind as a reliable defender. I know we play the type of game that can cause our defense to make errors (Kos makes quite a few of them), but I am really tired of this same old bs for the past 10 years. We have so much flair going forward. But the defense is… Read more »
I would disagree with that. Our defending from set-pieces has been decent this season. At the other end, we’ve been scoring more goals than previous seasons. Mertesacker may not be the quickest of players but he does read the game extremely well
Mertesaker reads the game quite well and he’s the reason we aren’t vulnerable in area balls. He only scares me when he’s up against very quick opposition players.
Get a cazorla’s smile when there is a set piece against Arsenal. That works !
Fucking love Wenger
His ability to spot gems turn them into superstars is second to none. You just need to look at what he has done for Bellerin, Coq and now Campbell. It’s an amazing feet.
“It’s an amazing feet.”
I like that. It is football after all, right?
Trust Arsene and his scouts. Now if you are a young football, talented of course, you better watch your back.
Train hard, be well behaved, avoid going out in the dark, delete all the nonsense on your social media outlets and don’t forget to lock up every time you take a dump. YOU ARE BEING WATCHED
Then we still have clowns accusing the club/Wenger for not “getting things done” or “dragging their feet”. Not that disagreeing makes you a clown, but if you want to vent and be OUTRAGED at least don’t make up shite
Julio Pleguezuelo is a promising defender. Great for the future.
Elneny will become the new Alex Song.
*Gilberto Silva, surely…
Let’s hope not, eh?
Different work ethic, different build
If this much planning and thought goes into the acquisition of one footballer out of hundreds can you imagine what is going on behind the scenes to prepare for the day when Arsene goes upstairs ? I can and Le Prof will be behind it as it won’t go on behind his back.
You know, the preparation process, it’s already begun.
Yep
If we win the league this year, can anyone else see him standing down? I think Pep would love to come here, and there’ve been murmurs he’s taking Arteta on as his assistant. I reckon a league and cup double and Arsene would be very tempted to end on a high. Personally think Pep’s a totally unknown quantity, but it would certainly be an exciting appointment. Either way, when the time comes, it’ll be a sad day for football.
Meanwhile I heard from grapevine today that Pep Guardiola is willing to wait two years to join the EPL. Perhaps with an eye on being Wenger’s successor.
There will be people who will say that this should have been wrapped up well in advance of our injury situation but I think there is one factor that’s alluded to in the quotes which is often overlooked. That is the sheer length of time of te scouting process. How do some fans think it is possible for Arsene and his team to continually locate targets out of left-field rather than relying on flavour of the month players? Imagine the amount of times the scouting team will look at a player for 6 months perhaps before walking away thinking actually… Read more »
If you haven’t come across it yet, then give this a read. Some really encouraging stuff here- the article seems to present him as a sort of hybrid of the players we’ve arguably missed the most these past few weeks (Cazorla and Coquelin). Makes him seem Gilberto-esque even. Okay, I’ll calm myself until after the Stoke game now…
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jan/14/arsenal-mohamed-elneny-basel
Will be interesting to see how (and if) he is used on Sunday vs Stoke. Not sure Wenger will be ready to start him, but possibly if protecting a lead bring him on to sit with Flamini or even if we are chasing the game have him replace Flamini as we’ll need his mobility and passing in there.
We’ve Arsene.
Who do you have?
I feel am top-of-world being an Arsenal fan.
Up da Arse->
Voyeur!!