Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny insists his combatting performance against Liverpool in the 2020 Community Shield convinced Mikel Arteta to hold onto him.
The Egyptian midfielder was expected to depart the Gunners over the last four transfer windows but has managed to remain at the Emirates Stadium.
While he is not one of Arsenal ’s first choice stars, the experienced midfielder has proven to be a reliable player for Arteta to lean on.
Having been signed by the north Londoners in the 2016 January transfer window, Elneny is one of the club’s longest serving players.
And the 29-year-old opened up on the moment he managed to prompt Arteta into a very unexpected U-turn, as well as his desires for the future.
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"I want to play the rest of my life outside Egypt, this is my dream. Al-Ahly is a very great club, but I hope to end my life abroad and work as a coach abroad as well,” Elneny said to Al-Mehwar TV.
"I have a dream and I will reach it. I see that I can be a key player in Arsenal. If I saw that my level was far from them, I would leave.
"I left for Besiktas because Unai Emery was not going to involve me, although he wanted me to stay for my role in the dressing room.
“I was outside Arteta's plan as well, but my performance before the start of last season and in the Liverpool match in the Community Shield match changed his mind about me and told me so."
Arsenal overcame Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side in a tense penalty shootout to win the 2020 Community Shield.
Elneny was one of the Gunners’ most important players, bossing the midfield and expertly protecting his defence.
It was quite the transformation for the Egyptian who was almost allowed to leave under Unai Emery and Arteta.
And Elneny’s agent Alan Nezmy also revealed the midfielder and Arteta turned down a number of different approaches in the preceding January transfer window, as he believed he could still compete for Arsenal at the highest level.
“Mohamed Elneny doesn’t follow social media directly, but sometimes someone from his circle would send him news about him or criticism,” Nazmy told Mega FM 92.7, via Sport Witness.
“The player’s contract expires at the end of the current season, and Arteta rejected all offers that came for Elneny and asked that him to stay with the team.”
“ Newcastle United, Valencia, Lyon, and the largest known Turkish clubs, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, wanted to sign Elneny, but in the end Arteta and the Arsenal management refused.”
“There are no official talks with Al Ahly [Egyptian club], and the question is illogical. Elneny still has the desire and ability to play in Europe. We only talk about that because Elneny played in Al Ahly’s academy.”
Elneny has made ten appearances for the north Londoners this season, almost all exclusively as a midfield enforcer from the substitutes bench.
