Mohamed Elneny may be back in training following his summer on international duty with Egpyt but it looks as though his Arsenal days are numbered.
The 25-year-old only featured in eight Premier League games last season and with Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi, Dani Ceballos and young Joe Willock all higher up the midfield pecking order he must be weighing up his options.
Rumours of a move are nothing new. Since signing from Basel in January 2016 for £11 million, he’s been variously linked with Leicester, Roma, Marseille, Bordeaux and Besiktas.
Despite all that, he penned a new long-term deal in March 2018 and is under contract until 2022. On one level, that’s great as it means we’re in no danger of losing him for free, on another we have to deal with the fact his last pay bump has pushed him out of the reach of quite a few clubs.
One side who are thought to be able to afford his wages are serial window shoppers Galatasaray.
The Turkish giants sniffed around a couple of years ago and FutbolArena says that Elneny, along with Chelsea’s Tiemoue Bakayoko, could be on their radar again.
We’re always wary of stories coming from Istanbul, but on the surface, it’s a move that makes sense. Well, assuming they paid a decent fee.
Given we just raised £10 million for Krystian Bielik and we were chasing £10 million for Laurent Koscielny, what would be a decent price for an international midfielder in his prime years? Surely we’d want to get more than we bought him for? Or would we loan him out and stick a right-to-buy clause in the deal. Who knows.
We have many questions and not so many answers. It’s one to keep an eye on though.
Our players on paper should be worth more than they do. But somehow they are pretty much worth whatever we can scrounge for them.
Anything – a footballer, a car, a house, whatever, is only worth what somebody else is prepared to pay for it. If they’re not prepared to pay then no sale.
We overpaid the transfer fee for many of the players who are surplus to requirements and who we’re trying to sell, and their wages are too high in relation to their ability/performance. This is largely down to the previous management team.
We need to get these players off the balance sheet so, to a degree, have to accept what’s offered. It’s that or no sale.
Part of the reason our players are worth a less than they should command is the way we’ve been playing and performing. When we turn things around, we’ll be back in the driver’s seat when it comes to transfers (though Raul is doing an admirable job from the backseat of an Uber, I must say!). Everyone looks better when we win. To be fair, the previous management team also did some pretty nice deals along the way: Rob Holding still has to prove he’s the real Rob Holding, but considering what teams have been paying for centrebacks the past few… Read more »
Well, I don’t think there were many “pretty nice deals” in the latter years, and they are surely outweighed by other transfers that have proved to be a colossal waste in both fees and wages. For example, one “Holding” at £2 million vs one “Mustafi” at £35 million or one “Ozil” at £42 million. As our American cousins would say, “You do the math.”.
We need to move this guy on, he doesn’t play because he isn’t good enough. A bit of a clinical assessment, but in the cold light of day that is the truth. I dont really see how we are going to get anything out of him at all. Surely the Europa League openers Unai will be using the Younger guys in the squad who have a future with us. We shouldn’t be wasting their development on by giving Elneny minutes.
But if anything is worth whatever someone is willing to pay, how could we have overpaid?
Surely that means the players were worth what we paid, no?
£25 would be a good number for him? I guess.
Guess it turns out he wasn’t the Egyptian Patrick Vieira afterall! ?
Give him away for free. Pointless player for us. There are players who maybe not as strong as we need them to be then there are players who have no function for us. Elneny and Jenkinson are these players. Sure you may be sentimental bc you think Elneny may develop into some sort of midfield genius at late age or Jenkinson is aan Arsenal fan but frankly they have little function. Elneny – We have Willock AND Guendouzi not to mention Torreira and Cebellos to pair with Granit and that’s not even considering what people like to obsess themselves with… Read more »
Seriously, this is the stupidest comment I have read on this website, maybe, ever.
Whenever I see a really long comment I always skip it, but go back to check if the poster is who I think it is. It’s always Santori.
Wow. Santori sucks.
Good squad player but clearly Emery doesn’t trust him. Hence, time to move on. A link to a Turkish club – I’ll believe it when it happens.
In other news, Arseblog.news is like a watched pot – no news of any defensive incoming. There seems to be plenty of smoke around ManU and Tots though!
Never been any good
Don’t know why we bought him
not a good buy. Average player. Wenger was just covering.
And we have plenty of players in midfield. GUendouzi, Torreira, Cebellos to go with Granit and Willock.
He’s not even a squad player at this point.
He has less function than Mustafi.
We bought him because as a young 22 year old, playing for Basel in the champions league, he held his own against some of the best teams in Europe, including man united and Chelsea, showing promise for a great future. That’s what clubs do. Sometimes, it works. Other times, it doesn’t. To my mind, he did his job, even if it didn’t meet with approval from the fan base all the time and that is down to the performance/ failings of the team during his time at the club. On the subject of value, how about we stop bad-mouthing our… Read more »
That should read “Liverpool and Chelsea”; and he cost us less than £7m at the time…..
Feels like we will see a more noticeable effort to push fringe players out of the club after the EPL window is closed. HOPEFULLY the club’s hierarchy fully focuses on bringing in the CB we so desperately need before the window closes!!
centreBACKS maybe.
Unsure of Holding’s record
Emery wants Mustafi out
So the only experienced centreback is Sokratis
*Holding’s fitness*
Show us the money ! !
Euros please.
Well the pound’s not going to be worth anything soon
Thanks for that Daily Mail readers
All football transfers within Europe are in Euros, including all transfers to and from this country. Many years ago they used to be in US Dollars.
We can accept Turkish Lira. We know where to find a Bureau de Change!
Hopefully we can offload him for between 10 – 15
Million. He’s surplus to requirements & I’m sure he wants to play regularly.
I think we should wait for Tierney until January, he’a still recovering from surgery & we should monitor his recovery during the first half of the season, we can survive with Monreal & Kolasinac.
If Elneny does go it gives a midfield spot to Maitland-Niles, I’d like to see a right back brought in before Thursday (unlikely I know), not convinced we are helping his development by playing him in a position he is clearly struggling with.
Who is going to pay 10m for Elneny?
You are dreaming.
Midfield spot is Willock’s.
AMN is our Rback and he will improve. It is his ‘natural position’. He certainly is better at it than Jenkinson (in fact so is Mustafi)
Maitland-niles cant play midfied at the top level…not good enough. He’s a better prospect at right back than in midfied….just needs to stop being lackadaisical and concentrate fully
We signed him for 4 million not 10.
We all know links to clubs in Turkey are usually bollocks.
I like Elneny but I’m fine if he stays, fine if he goes. A decent squad player but not irreplaceable even from within our own ranks. If he stays I hope he has an awesome season, if he goes good luck to him.
We desperately need a quality centre back and it looks like we’re selling surplus players now to raise money to bid for one before the deadline. Not only Elneny but Jenkinson is also supposed to be leaving.
Those two don’t even have the function of Mustafi. They should have been moved on two seasons or more ago but we can’t find buyers not bc of salary alone but bc they have little quality.
With his athleticism I away thought he could be used as a right back, could be worth a go if we don’t get good money for him
Never played Rback, never used him as Rback, can barely feature in his ‘natural position’.
Sure.
U know when you’re playing Manager mode on Fifa, and you just started a career season and you run through your team list, and you’re like okay you, you, you, you, you, you, you, and you all are going on the transfer list. And you, you, you, just pay the damn 15,000 and release these players.
And then when you get some offers for the fringe players, you’re like “meh whatever, screw negotiating, just accept and sell,” cuz you are too damn lazy and can’t be bothered.
…..anyways, that’s how I feel right now
The problem is too many people prefer to live in fantasy. The real world is very different. We are not going to be able to buy Tierney and a Rback and a Cback without compromise to quality at Cback. There is NO money to go buying everywhere. We need to manage risk next season and prioritise which means Cback is most urgent and we need to reserve all our money for a bid to get the best possible. AND that doesn’t necessarily mean we fix our defensive issues because they go way beyond Mustafi. In fact Mustafi is a very… Read more »
Some people live in a fantasy land where they know everything about football, whereas everyone else is a pleb with no understanding of the subject and just develop opinions based on what they’re told by the media.
Well said. I have said it a number of times; defending is a collective effort. Good spot there too, re that Suarez goal. That was Chambers’ job all day long. He was busy looking out for another potential runner, perhaps, because Ainsley Maitland-Niles didn’t tuck in to help keep watch on that player, as is required of full backs when play is central by the opposition. But, we love to have a villain and that’s got to be Mustafi (or Xhaka, or Ozil). A striker misses 10 chances, scores a winning goal and he is hailed. A defender scraps all… Read more »
Arsenal recently signed staff members who mainly attend to this problem. The famous case of getting nothing much for Serge Gnabry. You can already see results from these guys: Ospina 4M Bielik 10M Koscielny 5M (Arsene would have let him go for nothing) Bellacer 3M from sell-on clause (ALWAYS insist on a sell-on clause, and include the % as a negotiating chip – even 2% from a Bale or a Coutinho ends up being worth the effort) Jenkinson 2M (in negotiations) If you add this up – what do you know – it is enough for the whole first payment… Read more »
This “case of Gnabry” thing is just balderdash. Kid had his opportunities with the first team, got injured and returned at a time he couldn’t be risked, with the stars we then had at our disposal. So, off to WBA he goes only to be deemed not good enough, (however wrongly, but that was Pulis’ assessment). He was promised he will be eased into things but he wanted to go straight in to displace, who? Alexis? Oxlade-Chamberlain or Walcott? We even had Campbell at the time…. Now, what most don’t get is this power Bayern Munich has over clubs in… Read more »
Hahaha Lord’s always good for a chuckle
How the fuck is Elneny 25? Mo has been with us for ages, never once was he talked about as a child prodigy which he must have been when we signed him!
Small oversight by blogs. Elneny is 27. I feel you though — January 2016 feels like a lot longer ago than it should for some reason.
He’s 27. We signed him at 24
Upamecano issue is going to the wire. Rugani is prob the lesser option for us even if it saves money for a Tierney bid. Liepzg are playing tough but we should also hold firm. OTOH we have some cards to play. 1) There are less potential buyers in market this summer that will pay the price we can or want with Juve buying De Ligt (for 68m) and United with Macguire (80m) Price on Upamecano (release said to be 92m a bit over valued) We have seen with Fekir (as is common in market) if the seller over reaches, they… Read more »
“Why bro, I swear “
“ Yes bro..I swear…Who will join me “
Being a bit pedantic, but isn’t Elneny 27 (according Arsenal.com) and didn’t Arsenal sign him for near £5m(according to the BBC)? Puts a different context on things given he’s prob at his peak selling age, will want playing time and arrived for less than we paid for either Guendouzi or Martinelli (and possibly less than Ceballos’ loan fee?). I’m sure the club will see anything in the £7-10m bracket as a good offer. Shame really, busy squad player with a good engine who was never awful for us. Not really sure why Emery didn’t want to use him at all,… Read more »
Date of birth 11 July 1992
He can cover center back. He is 100% better that mustafaki
Quiz: when was the last time we actually sold to galatasaray? Great ally in helping to drum up interest though, like how we’re helping barca drum up interest in coutinho by showing ‘interest’. Or are we really interrsted in that one? Im confused
We are not interested in paying 27M for a loan for a player who plays the same position, but is not as good as, the player we just paid 15M for a loan. Notice that Ceballos has no sale clause in his loan, RM refused, while Barca is (allegedly) entertaining purchase offers for him. That clearly indicates Ceballos is better, Coutinho had a mediocre year. RM is desperate to keep Ceballos, much as when Nketiah goes on loan this week, there will be no sale clause. Fans’ biggest problem is that they are bedazzled by Players’ Agents PR campaigns about… Read more »
Probably Eboue in 2011
Ever noticed how ahead of an upcoming game one team is really interested in buying from another? And then after the game, nothing happens and it’s never mentioned again?
That’s what the Coutinho story was.
Podolski..?
Well if only the crossbar was three feet taller his long range efforts would amount to something special. Given that pic he cut off a million Euros of transfer fee worthiness off of his head
No big loss, especially with the young guys coming through and pushing for squad places.
Never really got a chance, probably with a run in the side could’ve been better. For some reason past and present manager seem to prefer Xhaka over anyone else in the squad. Get some game time elsewhere short career. A player that goes with some dignity.
I have a completely irrelevant question to this post that’s been on my mind for years:
Why do we not have the comment section on some of this blog’s posts?
Anyone can shed some light? Does Mr Ornstein have the answer?
Huh? There are always comments on Arseblog news.
Im referring to the posts. Not the news.
Now that Ospina has finally gone it seems Elneny has chosen to fill the gap for the player linked with Greek/Turkish clubs in the transfer window. I look forward to his eventual loan move to Valencia and then Hoffenheim before being sold in three years for 2 million to DC United.