Although the transfer window has closed in England, it remains open across Europe and reports from France suggest that Marseille are interested in Mohamed Elneny.
The Arsenal midfielder was left on the bench for Sunday’s opening game of the season against Man City, as new boss Unai Emery preferred rookie Matteo Guendouzi ahead of the experience of the Egyptian international.
Whether that tells us anything beyond the context of this game is hard to say, but when discussing potential departures last week, the new boss did not mention the former FC Basel man as one of the candidates.
He confirmed that David Ospina, Carl Jenkinson and Joel Campbell – who was not even named in the squad for the Premier League this season – were the three players most likely to leave.
The Colombian keeper has been persistently linked with a move to Turkey, although it remains to be seen if the financial crisis there will have any effect on that, while Jenkinson is looking at a loan move to the Championship or below.
It would be a strange move to shift a player who was handed a new contract and a new shirt number just a few months back, but then we sent Calum Chambers on loan to Fulham just four weeks after he signed a new contract so you just can’t tell these days.
There may also be a complication in that Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who could provide some depth in midfield, picked up an injury against City on Sunday and we await the prognosis of that. If he were to miss any significant period of time, it would make any midfield departure nigh on impossible.
If elneny is moved it will almost prove the kind of stupidity Arsene Wenger was dealing with on a day to day basis from the board. It’s almost scary to imagine that level of indecision. We will be left with a lot of players staying on just for the higher pay cheque. Personally I feel we lack a game changing midfielder. And on the days Ramsey is not playing or is not in form we will surely suffer. It’s better to start deploying iwobi in midfield to get him açcustomed to the position. He is currently the only player who… Read more »
Knowing our pathetic selling ability, I would expect we would be looking at maybe a measly £5m from Marseille for him.
I would rather keep Elneny than have another £5m in the bank. He’s an honest hard working player who can do a job for us when we need him.
If he is sold (it’s a bif “if” in my mind) I’m thinking we can get over 10 mln for him. And that wouldn’t be bad at all.
Buzz off Stan.
Oh great, so this is the mind-numbing narrative we have to look forward to now that the punching bag that is Wenger has left?
Outfuckingstanding.
bring back the poo-o-meter I say. there is still time.
Poo-o-meter “got out while he could”!
I like the fact that several players have extended their contracts, despite their place at Arsenal not being safe. It means the club is securing its interests. How Emery builds the squad next season will be interesting to see. This year will be transitional in many ways.
I know what you’re saying, but it wasn’t so long ago that we were “securing our interests” in Denilson, Djourou, Jenkinson etc and then look at how difficult it was /is to get rid of them. If we’re giving long-term contracts to a player then we need to be sure that we will want them long-term.
You make a good point. Considering that this guy just played in the World Cup though, I think extending is a no-brainer.
Nice username btw
Absolutely disagree. If we’re giving long-term contracts to a player then we need to be sure that we will want them long-term OR we will be able to sell them for a decent amount, ideally with a hefty profit. If the club is making decent money on such players that can be used to buy strongly, I couldn’t care less whether they want the players with long contracts or not.
I’d be surprised, given he is now used to the PL and the rest of the team so is much more valuable than if he were new.
Better to keep his energy and experience for when we need it during the season, even if this is for the Europa, League Cup, FA Cup etc plus substitutions and back-up for injuries.
I agree – he strikes me as just the kind of squad player that we need, a useful utility player. My only reservation is that i’m not sure what he is other than a very fit player who just keeps things ticking over. He’s no great ball-winner, he rarely wins headers in defence, he isn’t the type to split defences regularly with his range of passing and his shooting ability is pretty awful. Could we improve upon him? I suspect that Emery thinks that we can.
Not in the short term…
I’d rather have him than not until the next transfer window, at least.
It would be a bold and brave move, it would certainly leave us short, but if you don’t know what you want? Then you usually end up with a lot that you don’t want. If Elneny doesn’t fit in with what Emery is trying to do? Or he just thinks he’s not at the required level? Then as long as he’s replaced in Jan with a player who does fit the script? Then I’m happy for us to take the short term problems, it would certainly show a level of ruthlessness that’s been lacking and also a clear plan in… Read more »
I have the feeling that we have to reduce our wages to some degree. As we were unable to offload anybody apart from Perez and are paying big wages to the likes of Özil, Auba, Micky and hopefully to Ramsey in the near future, we can’t allow to have a lot of players earning around 3-5 mio per year, if they’re not really in Emery’s plans. So I think we rather have Mavropanos than Chambers when Chambers wouldn’t have played much anyway but Mavropanos earns way less. And the same with Elneny. Probably Emery rates him a bit higher than… Read more »
I agree, however if it’s a case of balancing books (either in terms of wages and fees), I doubt Emery has much say in the matter. I think he recommended which players can be moved on (Welbz, Ospina, Campbell, Lucas, Chuba, Jenko, Jeff), but with only three gone and three with deals running out, it feels like upstairs are looking at what assets the club has.
It could simply be that Emery likes to work with a smaller squad and doesn’t like having lots of players around who aren’t going to be involved?
You are wrong. In the current climate, 3 mio is pretty much the minimum except for the youngest and the fringe players. Everton has 13 players on 50k+ pw and West Ham has 15. According to the lists I’ve been looking at, pool has 21 and city has 22. We have 17. With 100k+ pw it’s a bit different, but the problem is in Sokratis and Mustafi getting 90k and Kolasinac getting 120k pw, not in squad players like Elneny getting 55k. If the numbers are way wrong, I take everything back.
https://sillyseason.com/football/arsenal-players-salaries-69062/
I’d keep him big time……..
Pretty bizarre if true, puts a shift in, seems happy to come off the bench and try and play his way into the side, offers energy and Premier League experience. We got him for peanuts in modern terms (less than €5m?), and a player of his quality, age and contract lockdown should easily go in the region of £20m. I suspect the club might need to balance the books a bit, we’ve spent £70m of that apparent £50m budget and only clawed back around £5m. The club probably thought they would have made a bit of cash selling Welbz &… Read more »
Best to keep him…. he is a steady hard working player… and is a team player….. and we always suffer loads of injury’s so it’s good to have rock solid squad players…
Strange if he goes to Marseille. Emery wants to play a high pressing and energetic style with players who have engine and the one that perfectly fit the bill will leave? A bit worrying if its the IRS trio deciding despite Emery’s choices.
Guess we’ll be losing more money on this deal too then. What a friggin joke!
I’d say that’s very unlikely – we paid peanuts for him so any ‘joke’ what good value he’s been for us.
You’re interfering with the narrative. We always pay too much, pay wages too high, and sell too low. Or sometimes we buy cheap instead of paying for quality, won’t secure a contract, and greedily sell a good player just for the profit. Or both.
Elneny’s style is not too different from Torreira’s. They both have good ball control and good overview. The two would make a very solid DM pair in 4 -2-3-1, which Wenger played with Arteta and Flamini.
That said, the midfield is overcrowded, even if Ramsey should leave in January. But I would rather have sold Kolašinac. I think we are looking at a back four, and then his services will be less required.
Who will cover for and, soon enough, replace Monreal?
Our second string fullback is not required? You do know AMN is a midfielder not a fullback, and definitely not a left FB, right?
Elneny is a utility man, selling him would be a mistake. I believe he will be up for the task any position given to him (eg left back)
Please dont sell him.
AMN is the utility man. No need for Elneny. That said, even the utility man at Arsenal gets injured.
I’m not overwhelmed by Elneny but he has his uses, especially in the high intensity game Emery looks like he wants to play.
There’s going to have to be quite intensive surgery to the squad over the next 18 months/2 years for Emery to get it where he wants it so that means players are going to have to be sold, not sure i’d make this move now but then again we might not have a choice.
As I mentioned before, must sell list – Campbell and Ospina
Free or just leave him on the sidewalk – Jenkinson
Sell if price is good – Welbeck, Elneny (Both still have some utility but they are average at the moment)
We will need to rejuvenate the squad shortly. Auba, Ozil and Mhki approaching 30(one may have to go maybe 1 or 2 seasons down). Monreal defo gone next summer, Cback issues still to fix.
We will need to build next summer so will have to start making room.
I really hope this turns out to be bollocks.
If only because in the last few days I’ve imagined a moment when Torreira, Guendouzi, and Elneny are all on the pitch at the same time harrying and tackling like banshees.
And anyway, Elneny isn’t just a good player, he’s a fucking good player.
Average.
Flimsy player. We already have Torreira, Granit and Guendouzi.
My only issue would be our ability to rack up injuries.
But Elneny can go otherwise. We need better.
From what I have seen (mainly for Uruguay, I’ve never seen Torreira in Serie A), that is not Torreira’s game at all. He stays deep, wins balls, withdraws to help the centre halfs. When Emery plays a three-man midfield, one stays back (Xhaka against Man City) and two press (Ramsey and Guendouzi). Elnenny, by the way, can play either role, which is very useful.
What is Wenger up to these days?
Waiting for a ‘phone call – a la Sam Allardyce.
Apparently there is a vacancy as Japan’s National Coach, which I would have thought would suit Wenger, down to the ground. But we’ll see……
I like how, and I can only assume, Elneny’s jilted lover is going through all the comments and down-voting any comment that is balanced or shows Elneny favour.
Elneny is an average player.
He hasn’t improved that much.
I expect we will release him only if the offer is right.
Having said that, I would worry about midfield depth with him gone. He is rightly behind Granit, Torreira and Guendouzi but we also seem to have a propensity to rack up injuries.
Great. Let’s sell a midfielder who actually works in our system, rarely puts in a bad shift, keeps the ball well and defends well too. Yes. This move makes a lot of sense. Meanwhile granit xhaka is guaranteed a starting place no matter what.
Great.
On the fence on this one as obviously important to keep numbers in your squad with multiple trophies to aim for but for me we have 4 better options for midfield (Torreira, Xhaka, Guendouzi & AMN) all of whom are younger than him too. I think when (if) everyone is available he will atruggle to get into match day 18, never mind first 11, so I can see some sense in selling him.
Xhaka is not convincing (too many errors and can’t dribble so all any team needs to do is stick a player on him). Guendouzi and torriera are unknown quantities at this stage/new and need bedding. Amn is a great talent but has rarely featured for us in the middle. Elneny should be given at least one more season as an option, next season the midfield definitely needs another upgrade.
Xhaka clearly preferred by both Arsene & now Emery. (started ahead of him v City despite a fractured pre aeason) Torreira & Guendouzi both preferred Sunday too despite bedding in period. So he’s 4th choice at best….and when AMN not needed at full back, might well be 5th. All 4 definitely have much more potential, even if you don’t agree they are better options now.
As I said I’m not desperate to sell him but I can see why we would..
I can’t see any realistic reason to do this right now unless someone puts up an above-value offer or we’re wheeling-dealing for a player of theirs. He’s not putting nearly the salary dent of many of our other players, his contract is not running down, and it would be more expensive to replace him like-for-like or to better him at all. And surely if the intent is to sell we’d get more during a full window including the Prem due to more potential bidders.
I think it is worth keeping Elneny. He could be a very useful player to have if we’re going to play a pressing game. He has a very good engine which is ideal for the work rate that it requires.
A bit off-topic but wouldn´t Sessegnon have been an excellent signing for long term cover of the left back?
Sell Xhaka instead.