Arsenal: ‘Agreement reached’ for January midfield transfer

The January transfer window is unavoidable, even when it doesn’t open for two and a half months. For all the efforts to focus attention on what is to come in the Premier League for Arsenal, speculation remains as rife as ever.

In this long yet technically also quite brief spell without domestic action, Mikel Arteta has been linked with an old school reunion of Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Aaron Ramsey. One could become a permanent deal after training and the other two would arrive as winter additions.

Confirmation that, yes, an international break has been ongoing.

Regardless of all the rumours of incomings, the majority of the transfer activity will be centred around outgoings. The squad has expendable parts that need to be moved on before new faces can walk through the door, hence why there has been plenty of talk around Alexandre Lacazette’s future.

Mohamed Elneny reaches agreement with Galatasaray to leave Arsenal in January transfer window having fallen down Mikel Arteta’s pecking order

Apart from centre-forward, midfield is the other area that looks set to be busy in the coming months. Boasting five central midfielders in the squad at present, there are question marks over three of them.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles was convinced to stay but will conclude the season with just one year of his contract left, Granit Xhaka may well be fazed out should Sambi Lokonga impress in his injury absence, and Mohamed Elneny is into his final year.

The latter of those was heavily linked with a late exit in the summer window as Besiktas and Galatasaray hovered on the case, with that interest remaining very much in place for January.

As per Turkish outlet Fanatik, there have been ‘significant developments’ in Gala’s pursuit of Elneny with an ‘agreement reached’ that would see the Egyptian return to the Super Lig. More quotes? Well, these are supposedly ‘serious steps’ taken, and now it’s just a matter of striking a deal with Arsenal.

The talk around transfer deadline day was near enough exactly the same: Galatasaray had reached an agreement with Elneny and Arsenal had a value to be met. Has anything changed?

What is slightly different is that Arsenal are said to be willing to ‘release’ Elneny, which implies a free transfer could even be on the cards just to get him off the books.

Yet if Arsenal weren’t going to agree to a permanent exit in the summer for actual financial gain, then why would they sanction this kind of move when Xhaka is injured? Even if he’s away at AFCON, it would be extremely strange transfer strategy to let him go for nothing now instead of a fee back in September.

Unless Arsenal bring in a midfielder this winter, Elneny can’t go. He doesn’t earn much anyway and that extra body in the centre of the park may well be needed at some stage. Just let him play out his deal on the off chance Arsenal become thin in that area.

Or buy someone else. But that’s far less feasible.