Arsenal: 3 reasons it wouldn’t be awful if Mohamed Elneny stayed

The sheer volume of work needed to be undertaken at Arsenal is beginning to sink in. Left to right, up and down, there is going to be considerable change in north London in every department. But what should happen with Mohamed Elneny?

Mikel Arteta and Edu are embarking on a major squad overhaul. It’s not just a case of selling bad players and signing better ones. It’s taking place for more reasons than that.

Last season’s dire campaign was made brighter by the emergence of a glorious young core. The face of the club, in many ways. Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka carried the whole team, one filled with players coming towards the end of their cycles, or in some instances, already way past their best.

This rebuild is about building a squad to compete for years to come, with the right age profiles and with scope to develop and even be worth a few quid if money comes in for them. Arsenal are aiming their sights high at the likes of Ben White for £50m and James Maddison for £60m; ignoring price they’re ideal profiles to kick-start a new era in the club’s history surrounded by talent for the short, mid and long-term.

https://twitter.com/ElNennY/status/1400844375027027970

3 reasons it wouldn’t suck if Mohamed Elneny stayed at Arsenal in the summer transfer window despite being a distinctly average footballer

So where does Mohamed Elneny fit in to all this? Well, he doesn’t.

Seeing the likes of Granit Xhaka, Bernd Leno, Alexandre Lacazette, Cedric, Willian and David Luiz all either departed, departing or rumoured to be on the move, the Egyptian’s name would surely make sense to be among them.

It would and it wouldn’t.

Vast change is afoot in north London and looking across the squad at who could be moved on to raise the ceiling, there are next to none who would even contemplate arguing that Elneny can’t be improved on.

But it would not be a total disaster if he stayed. Why? Well, let’s try three reasons and see how many people can disagree in one fell swoop.

1. Arsenal Won’t Get Everything Done This Summer

Granit Xhaka, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Eddie Nketiah, Matteo Guendouzi, Lucas Torreira, Hector Bellerin, Sead Kolasinac, Joe Willock, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Reiss Nelson, Bernd Leno and Alexandre Lacazette could all leave during this window.

That’s a lot of players.

While this rebuild is going to be ‘ruthless’ and the turnover unlike anything seen at Arsenal in most supporters’ lifetimes, it would be overambitious to assume the club will complete all of their business in one window. Not least over a summer with a major international tournament taking place.

If we look at the players being linked with moves to Arsenal we can already see that full-backs are yet to be among them. There is still plenty of time to go in this window for that to change but it demonstrates a degree of prioritisation – maybe having Calum Chambers at right-back for next season wouldn’t be so bad if it comes down to it.

The same applies in midfield where four of the central options could all move on. Arsenal don’t need to replace all of them but some irons will have to be left hot and Elneny, if it came down to it, isn’t going to fetch a considerable fee and can be deemed as a non-priority member this window.

Arsenal can’t do it all.

2. Mohamed Elneny Has One Year Left & Low Wages

Arsenal are atrocious at managing their players’ futures with contract sizes, lengths and pay packets all poorly dealt with. Looking at it from this point of view, the same can be said of Elneny who has only 12 months left on his deal. The club have let it get to this point.

The Egyptian isn’t Aaron Ramsey or Mesut Ozil, however. He’s just…Mohamed Elneny.

Not a marquee player who the club are pining to get tied down, if Elneny plays through the final year of his contract and leaves for free at the end of it then nobody will rue the day. He isn’t on huge money and he won’t kick up a fuss.

As per football.london, talks over his situation started in April and haven’t resumed since, but they needn’t be priority. Arsenal should, however, tie him down for longer and protect his value as it’s the right thing to do, even if just for one more year, so that in 12 months’ time he can be shipped off for probably what his yearly salary is.

If he did run down his contract it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but just another year extension, with no increased salary, would likely be an easy discussion to have. We love Elneny but he isn’t going to play for a bigger club than Arsenal and he will relish the chance of another season in north London.

Or, he could play down his contract. It’s what Arsenal have to be moving away from but if it’s one less thing to deal with this summer and won’t cost the club dearly then perhaps it’s amicable.

3. Mohamed Elneny is a Squad Option for Arsenal at Best

Elneny is a very, very average footballer. He is unbelievably limited and frequently infuriating. Why on earth would any club want to keep him?

Because he won’t mind being fourth choice. Every squad up and down the country needs a player who will be happy to sit on the bench, soak up some pre-season sun and then, on the rare occasion he’s needed, play the odd minute here and there.

Coming into a campaign where there is no European football and rotation will be minimal in Premier League matches, Elneny will barely play. He won’t be bothered.

If Arsenal can go out and sign four central midfielders this summer then that’s brilliant, Elneny can be sold. That just isn’t going to happen, though.

There will be situations where you need someone off the bench who can come on and do one job very well. Just about the only thing Elneny is capable of is keeping the ball and, in fairness, he does that effectively and without risk. Rarely ever does he give possession away – it helps when you only pass backwards – and as someone to come on and shore things up in midfield he is your man.

The 28-year-old actually forms a very strong partnership with Thomas Partey which has produced some strong results, which while we need to see improved, does bring the best of the Ghanaian. Unfortunately, Elneny is another who will be off the AFCON in the winter, which isn’t ideal, but if he isn’t playing too often anyway it won’t be a huge miss.

Arsenal can absolutely upgrade on Elneny. And if they can, do it. If they can’t among the mountain of other things to do, having a cheerful and fun character behind the scenes who won’t mind being fourth choice isn’t the worst outcome in the world.