Arsenal: Don’t overlook the contract of Mohamed Elneny

Mohamed Elneny has signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal. While his game is severely restricted, this deal should not be overlooked.

Perhaps the biggest criticism that can be levelled at the current Arsenal squad is this: Consistency. Both on an individual and a collective basis, this is a gathering of individuals who have a great variance in the level of their performance.

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Over a league campaign, that disparity in display produced disastrous results. Unlike knockout competitions, in which hitting your stride at the right time is sometimes all that is needed to triumph, in a league season, players and teams need to be able to consistently win matches. That is the beauty of the challenge. It is unrelenting.

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So the players that do at least have some semblance of consistency should be cherished and valued, even if the level of their performance is not quite that of the glorious peaks of some of their teammates. Take, for instance, Nacho Monreal and contrast him to his centre-half teammates, Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny.

If each individual plays at the best of their ability, Monreal is the worst of the three. Mustafi is a pacy, aggressive, front-footed defender who stifles strikers through suffocating them of time, space and service. Koscielny is a leading, commanding, controlling centre-half who possesses the athleticism to deal with the great variety of centre-forwards that the modern game throws at him. Monreal is simply a sound defender who has some attacking production but can be exploited in wide areas by quicker, sharper attackers. He is far from spectacular.

The difference, though, and it is an important distinction to make, is that Monreal will perform near his best almost every time he takes the field. Mustafi and Koscielny, especially this season, may only see their best form for a few matches before complacency and concentration issues strike. Monreal may be the worse player, but he might be the most valuable.

In a very similar manner, take midfielder, Mohamed Elneny. The Egyptian international, who has never been an entrenched starter at the club, is a reliable, dependable, consistent performer. He does not suffer troughs of despairing form. He does not enjoy spectacular peaks of blistering showings. He is merely mediocre.

But there is actually a great value in that. Simply being good 90% of the time is actually extremely important, especially in regards to long, enduring, arduous league seasons that test a team’s consistency and resilience. Consequently, then, news of Elneny’s long-term contract extension should come as a welcome surprise.

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It will undoubtedly be overlooked, if not ignored. He is, after all, just a squad player. But it shouldn’t be. He is deserving recognition and praise for possessing a characteristic that so few of his teammates have: Reliability.