According to TuttoMercato, Roma are exploring the possibility of signing Mohamed Elneny on loan this month with a view to a permanent move in the summer.
The Egyptian international was handed a new contract and a new shirt number last year, but has found himself well and truly on the fringes under Unai Emery.
He has made just one Premier League appearance this season, playing 59 minutes of the 3-1 win over Burnley in December, otherwise finding himself an unused substitute or simply not in the squad at all.
The 26 year is clearly not in Emery’s plans, so despite the Gunners continued involvement in the Europa League, a loan move to play more regularly would make a lot of sense from the player’s point of view.
Arsenal are continuing their efforts to sign Denis Suarez on loan from Barcelona, with reports that a deal could be completed this week, although it’s unlikely to go through in time for him to face Chelsea this Saturday.
It’s a must win and a definitely must-not lose game for Emery, as a Chelsea victory would see them go 9 points clear of Arsenal and almost certainly end any chance of Champions League qualification via the Premier League.
I do hope that this Suarez is a good player, one better than Özil. I do hope it a lot. UE attitude towards Özil is a shame, it is disturbing the player, belittling his input on the team (and club) and surely no easy way for his teammates. I do hope that this future teacher’s pet is worth it. I doubt he will.
Not better than Ozil, but a different player. Personally i think we could use someone like him, seems to be good at dribbling, which i think will help us retain the ball in midfield.
Pep and Conte would have done same to Ozil as UE did. Mourinho did same to Mata who was Chelsea’s best player the year before Mourinho returned there. At Arsenal Wenger did same to Podolski for exact same reason. Podolski went to Milan on loan and proved nothing. Ozil will go somewhere else and face same situation.
Elneny can feel a bit hard done by IMO.
Thought he always played his role for Arsenal well.
He’s not a play maker or an attacking mid who scores.
But his job was to ask for the ball from the defenders and always keep it moving, feeding those in front of him.
Agree. He was never going to set the world alight but he always did what was asked of him without prima donna tantrums. A useful squad player for rotation purposes in the lesser games to keep first choices fresh for the important matches like the next two!
“He’s not a play maker or an attacking mid who scores” on top of his silly wages are probably the exact reasons why he’s being rightly let go. Whether he’s a good person or not doesn’t mean he’s a good player…
For the ‘lesser games’ we can now blood more of the youth into the squad and we take a sizeable chunk off our wage bill. Excellent all round.
I totally agree with you. Well said mother
What silly wages is 1/7 Ozil’s wages?
I like him but he’s not got much potential to eek out and he’s on quite high wages. Think letting him go is a good thing, ultimately, but I’ve no bad words to say about Elneny at all
I would have taken Elneny instead of Xhaka against West Ham. However despite his great attitude Elneny isn’t the quality of player we need to help us progress in the long term.
How about James? James Rodriguez?? Since Henry my fav. player at a time joining fav. club. Sorry for taking in personally but deapite all the negatives nowadays I’d be in heavens if that happens.
Agreed. Though I do think it’s unlikely, James to the club would certainly be massive!
James is a media creation. Good performance in three games of a worldcup. That’s all.
Apparently he’s a total prick, we already had one of those in Sanchez and look how that ended up.
I have always thought that if Emery’s team selection was based of meritocracy, he would have given Elneny a chance to prove himself. Elneny is a hard working, hard running midfielder who is perfect for pressing and better defensively than Guendouzi.
So Emery has not looked at everyone the same, irrespective of salary because he would have given Elneny a fair shot. We all saw that he is definitely better than Xhaka at centreback.
Elneny has been given chances. A lot. He neither took it nor squandered it. He is just an average player earning above average. Yes, he is reliably but at the expense of taking no risk at all. We could use money better and whatever Elneny did in any game he played could be also done by our youth.
He does the same job Guendouzi does, but more effectively and with less plaudits.
I agree completely with you. A better and more mature Guendouzi.
I’m genuinely utterly bemused at how anyone can not see how much more talented than Elneny that Guendouzi is. It’s crystal clear to me. Elneny more mature obviously given 7 years older…but other than that…
Each to their own I guess.
Guendouzi is our future. Rightly or wrongly he was one of the few players trying to make things happen against West Ham, and by that I mean there were times he probably should have passed to one of our strikers instead of shooting himself, but he was probably acting on the coach’s instructions.
If it’s a loan? Then I hope there’s an obligation to buy, nothing against Elneny he always put in a shift and he never complains, but unfortunately he’s pretty average
To be honest Elneny is much better then Xhaka but is really clear that the boss need to give more chance elnney. We all saw that he is definitely better than Xhaka at centreback.
Santori will be happy. I feel for Mo Elneny, people forget he won player of the month twice in 2016 before Arsene decided to make him into a defensive mid and centre back, and he is neither. If anyone ever watched him play for Egypt at that time he was good. If Emery isn’t able to improve him then it reflects on the manager, but Elneny will probably be better off out of it, he seems a nice guy and hopefully ends up somewhere where he is appreciated.
To cast doubt on the manager because he can’t improve Elneny is really unfair. Elneny has a ceiling and he’s reached it. I actually love the guy and think he has a great attitude but he isn’t any better than Joe Willock.
Yep. Great guy….but has always looked like Arsenal was a step too far for him. No point blaming Emery.
About time too.
Mediocre player taking up wage bill.
Jenkinson another one can’t even find a taker for a loan because he is so poor.
Not good enough for our ambitions. Worse than having Mustafi or Granit.
Get rid of them please.
That’s 55K freed up. If we can sell Mhkitaryan instead of trying the impossible in selling Ozil, it will be another 120K Then we should really consider revisiting negotiations for Ramsey. Juve is purportedly offering 140K per week for 5 seasons. Naturally the club are asking 16m from the Italians. BUT considering Wenger and Law spent ONLY 4.75m for Rambo from Cardiff, I’m frankly not sure what all this hysteria is about that we are in danger of letting him go for free. In fact his cost has been well ammortised over the long tenure he has been with us.… Read more »
If Elneny goes, we have room to bring in one more in midfield because frankly unless you have been sleeping, Torreira has been poor in recent 5 games. Against BHA, Soton and Liverpool, he was robbed or gave away the ball 4 or 5 times, 3 of which directly led to goals against us. Had this been Granit there would be suitable derision but some people prefer to listen to popular opinion. That’s not to say Granit isn’t culpable either or for the matter Guendouzi who has consistently also failed to be aware of runners into the box (albeit at… Read more »
I like you optimism. But isn’t it funny how all are dead wood are wanted by better champions league teams. Like Roma. If this loan does free up money to get Suarez than at least emery gets his second choice after the Argentinian bansga.. But Suarez he has to settle. Good luck to him. Elneny be great to rotate to keep torrentia fresh for big premier games snd europa league final stages. Yes willock will become a great he has potential. Hope it is nirvana too early for him. Eleney did it away st Barcelona! Let’s not forget . African… Read more »