Mohamed Elneny Set Up To Fail At Arsenal

Arsenal have needed a bonafide, world class defensive midfielder for the past decade. Putting that on Mohamed Elneny is condemning him to fail.

You could make the argument that for the past decade, the only thing that Arsenal have seriously needed is a world-class defensive midfielder. They have always had a good attack and some premium defenders but there was no gumption in the base of their midfield. Not since Gilberto Silva and Patrick Vieira. When Francis Coquelin emerged, we had our answer, but one man cannot hold down the fort forever.

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Finding a true defensive midfielder is no easy feat. They are a hot commodity and because of that whole ‘supply and demand’ thing, they are going to cost a lot of money. Between Granit Xhaka, Lars Bender and Grzegorz Krychowiak, no one is going to cost less than £20m.

But that is what Arsenal need. They need that fear-monger at the base of midfield. All three of those options would serve that purpose.

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Then there is Mohamed Elneny. Being that he plays for FC Basel, stats are hard to come by. All we can tell from the stats that are available is that he is gradually improving every year. He does not have the same appeal as the three guys mentioned above because the general consensus is that if he was anyone, he would have been snatched up by now.

But that is not necessarily the case. Let’s compare him to Krychowiak, who I believe is the absolute ideal solution to Arsenal’s problems. Krychowiak was playing at lowly Reims averaging under three tackles and interceptions per 90 (via WhoScored). At the age of 23, he was snapped up by Sevilla, where he has nearly doubled his defensive numbers. There we have our proof that, just because he’s 23 does not mean that he is garbage. Some people take longer to be discovered.

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That being said, the odds are stacked against Elneny. Assuming the move happens, he is going to be Arsene Wenger’s first real defensive midfield signing since Gilberto Silva in 2002. No pressure. Not only that, but he is going to walk into a huge void in this Arsenal team. The world is going to be expected of him and if he does not deliver right away, he should seek counseling with Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil. Giroud is still not appreciated and Ozil only came into his element this year.

I am still a huge supporter of Arsenal’s scouting system. Maybe I’m naive. But they have uncovered some dynamite talent from questionable sources. Aaron Ramsey and Laurent Koscielny are the highlights in recent days.

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Mohamed Elneny is only being criticized because he is not that big name guy. But that doesn’t mean that he is a bumbling buffoon. For just £5m, he would be going for right at what Krychowiak went for when he was 23. So while the odds are against him and the pressure is putting him in a position to fail, that does not mean that failure is the only possible outcome.