Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny insists the club is "in his blood" after his revival under manager Mikel Arteta.
The Egypt international, 29, looked certain to leave the Emirates three months ago. Heading into the final five weeks of last season, he had just seven Premier League outings to his name - the last of which coming in January - and two months remaining on his contract.
Yet Elneny started all seven of Arsenal's last seven league games to remind Arteta of his ability and earn a new contract, signing a one-year deal with the option of a further 12 months. He continued his good form on Friday, scoring a stunner in a pre-season friendly against Nurnberg. The Gunners won 5-3 with new signing Gabriel Jesus scoring twice.
"Of course I'm glad to stay at Arsenal," Elneny told reporters after Friday's game. "It's my family and a team I love to play with."
When asked if he was tempted to leave Arsenal this summer, Elneny replied: "Never, Arsenal is in my blood now. I love this club and I want to give everything to this club."
Elneny is hoping to finally become a regular at Arsenal, seven years after initially joining the club. He's played at least 20 Premier League games in a single season just once since his move from Basel and spent the 2019-20 campaign on loan at Besiktas.
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Elneny has played 147 games for the Gunners, scoring five goals. The four-time Swiss Super League winner was part of the Arsenal squad that lifted the FA Cup and Community Shield in 2017, winning the latter competition again in August 2020.
Discussing his goal after Friday's game, Elneny added: "It’s what I love! I love to score from distance. It’s what I work on every day in training. After every training, I work on it, when I finish training, I keep shooting from distance.
"Because I know shooting from distance can create a winning [scenario]. If the game is level and we need someone to shoot from outside, they can change the game sometimes. This is what I have to do, work on helping my team in every way."
On what pre-season is about, Elneny added: "It’s about getting better in every single day, physically, mentally. To talk to each other, to help each other in the way we train and play games. I think the way we train is really hard, everyone pushes hard.
"We know we have an important season and we have created a really, really good atmosphere between us. This is what we are looking for and this season is going to be different.
Elneny also discussed Arsenal's youngsters with several making an appearance against Nurnberg. "Of course they come to help us and we help them of course," he added. "We are a team, we help each other every day, we have talented players to help us in the new season. We are happy and inshallah this season we are going to be good."
