Arsenal: Complete player rankings for the 2018/19 season

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21. Mohamed Elneny

You can’t possibly dislike Mohamed Elneny. He just works too damm hard to be disliked. But unfortunately for him, that hard work is about the extent of his ability.

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When Arsene Wenger bought him for £5m, expectations were low. He was young, certainly a rotational option, and had a lot of upside. Worst case, he would still be a viable rotational option. However, now that we’ve had him for several years, we’re seeing that the worst case was worse than we expected. Because he just doesn’t have the quality to be a rotational option anymore.

As much as his work ethic is to die for, he just doesn’t have any other positives to his play. He doesn’t create, he doesn’t defend well enough, he isn’t quick of fleet of foot. He just doesn’t have a lot going for him beyond his fierce determination.

And while that was once good enough, with the elevating level of football in the Premier League, and the world of football in general, it just isn’t anymore. We need to do better and Unai Emery didn’t hide from that fact. He was very sparse with his usage of Elneny this year and when he did touch the pitch, you could see why.

He’s going to be sold this summer, you can bet on that. Even if we don’t get much of a fee for him.

Andy (20), Josh (22)

No. 20 is next.