I cannot stress enough how much pride Arsenal football club brings me. Whether it is the work in the local community, the way that it shows its global charitable influence or even simply on the smaller individual scale such as with the news of Mohamed Elneny’s contract.
Granted, it isn’t always perfect and mistakes have been made along the way which, as shown certainly on the field, have taken some time to recover from. However, Arsenal’s renewal of Elneny’s deal in particular should not be garnering the negative reaction it has from some corners of the club’s stakeholders.
Despite being injured with a knee problem which could threaten to rule him out beyond the end of just this season Arsenal renewed his deal. Elneny is on lower wages with the club renegotiating his contract until 2024 football.london understands.
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Mikel Arteta made it clear when asked about the potential new deal for Elneny that the club earlier this month that Arsenal were doing things ‘in the right way.’ Alluding to the fact that after such long service from Elneny, it was right to continue his stay with us whilst he recovered from his injury.
“Our way of treating people, living together and what we expect from people is to give the maximum. And when things are the other way around and things become difficult, I think the club has to behave in the right way.
“We have some really good examples of that, and we have to continue to do that.”
It is a decision which highlights that same attention to community and family discussed earlier. Elneny’s contributions may well be limited, but the decision to extend and the benefits of doing so far outweigh any negligible financial cost.
Some might argue that Elneny staying takes up space in the squad. Arsenal’s summer transfer priority is Declan Rice but football.london understands that this has not changed based on the renewal of the Egyptian.
Premier League and European registration does not force Arsenal to name Elneny on any of their lists and depending on his situation the club might err on the side of omitting the midfielder where appropriate. Rice or any other signings, therefore, need not worry about the presence of Elneny in the group taking up a spot.
Let’s not forget that a fit and firing Elneny is an asset to this team. His sole start of the season came against Fulham in which the Gunners came out 2-1 winners. He also came on at the end of the 4-2 win over Brighton to help sure up a chaotic finish and help Arsenal claim all three points.
Last season, with starting midfielder Thomas Partey injured, Elneny started the final seven Premier League games, of which Arsenal won five including victories over Chelsea and Manchester United. Only narrowly did the Gunners miss out on Champions League qualification but Elneny showed he could be relied upon when called on for short periods.
Another suggestion is that the contract renewal might cause a drawback in the potential obstacle for the likes of Charlie Patino seeing a pathway into the group. Patino has spent the season with Blackpool where he’s injured a successful spell but not without its challenges; most recently the England youth international was sent off against Swansea for two yellow cards.
He’s already scored against Premier League opposition having converted against Southampton in the FA Cup. He’s watched close by the Arsenal loan staff and Arteta is a big fan of the teenager.
Elneny’s continuation with the group does not impact Patino’s pathway. The club signed Nicolas Pepe for a club-record fee with the expectation he’d lock down the right wing into the foreseeable future.
Fast forward just one year after his arrival and it was Bukayo Saka who has since established himself in the role, a Hale End graduate who proved to be good enough to push out Pepe. Patino has bigger concerns than Elneny with Thomas Partey, Jorginho, Sambi Lokonga and Granit Xhaka all potentially able to play in the two midfield roles the 19-year-old can occupy.
Rice’s potential arrival only worsens this. To be blunt, if Patino cannot convince Arteta and company to get more minutes than Elneny, what chance does he have against the aforementioned group of central midfielders?
If he’s good enough he’ll make it. However, to circle back to Elneny as a player and what he brings, it is off the field where his presence is felt important despite being unavailable.
In a tongue-in-cheek clip on social media of Mohamed Elneny coming on for the final seconds of a game against West Ham, former Arsenal midfielder Dani Ceballos quoted the tweet to rave about his former teammate. He wrote: “Incredible professional, incredible teammate. More players like that in football. A luxury player for the Arsenal.”
Elneny along with Granit Xhaka, Rob Holding and Cedric Soares all completed their B licence. Perhaps the club see a future for Elneny off the field at the club into the future and want to show their commitment to him with the new deal; Arteta has always backed the player.
In essence, Elneny’s continuation at the club is only a good thing. He does not block any potential new signings nor youth players coming through, his existing quality has proven to be an asset to the club and his influence off the field is raved about by players and staff and is clearly influential enough that a financial commitment has been made to keep him. Any financial drawbacks are negligible in the context of the club’s monetary engagements and ultimately it continues to show the class and integrity of the club in how it treats its staff, with any ill-judged decisions of the past being acted upon with instances like this.
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