Arsenal midfielder Mo Elneny is claimed to have rejected the Egypt manager’s request for him to warm-up at half-time, before supposedly informing his boss that he wouldn’t be playing.
The 28 year-old is claimed to have been frustrated with his manager’s decision not to give him a role in the starting line-up, which prompted his decision to refuse to play.
Elneny hasn’t been playing heavily for Arsenal of late despite impressing earlier in the campaign, but remains as one of the biggest names of the Egypt squad.
The issue appears to be with the manager however, with Elneny supposedly asking not to be called up after the previous internationals after he was overlooked, and was supposedly promised to start, a promise that clearly wasn’t kept.
“After the first training camp under Hossam El-Badry, Elneny asked not to be called up again, because he wasn’t starting,” Ahmed Abdelbaset told OnTime Sport TV (via All Africa).
“He was constantly on the bench during the previous qualifying matches, and even though he was promised to start he was still benched against Kenya.
“El-Badry asked Elneny to warm-up during the half-time because he was planning on subbing him on but he refused and told him he wasn’t going to play,” he added.
With Egypt set to line-up against fellow already-qualified Comoros this evening, it could be interesting to see if Elneny is part of the squad, or even the starting line-up after the previous incident, but at this point I wouldn’t be expecting Mo to feature having fallen out with the manager.
Should Elneny expect there to be repercussions for refusing to play on Thursday?
Patrick
I don’t know the relationship between the two men, but ME ultimately accepted the call up from Eygpt so he should bite the bullet and wear the shirt for his country. I can just imagine Elneny telling Arteta that he wasn’t prepared to come on for the second half against Liverpool……
It depends, if promises were made and not kept then he has every right to feel aggreived.
Similar issue with Kos and Arsenal, if Arsenal were wrong then I accept the response from Kos.
You keep your promises, no exceptions.
That is egypt’s problem&more reason for them to have a bad afcon come next year.long may it continue
Although other pundits and Elneny’s agent claim the story is a beat up and Elneny is training normally for the next match.
Honestly now, does anybody really care? I don’t, mainly because Elneny will not be here next season and is only a bit part player for us and of no real use.
International football is mostly one big yawn in any case, at least until the qualifying groups are over. And I doubt many Gooners are Egypt fans, let alone Elneny fans. Just being honest!
Not being funny, but I can’t imagine Egypt are blessed with many players better than Elneny in midfield. Seems ludicrous to not play him. Totally back him being frustrated by that.
European based players are risking a lot by accepting and traveling for this matches and imagine getting there risking being quarantined upon return for being on the bench for a qualifyers match to a local player, makes no sense to Mo really. Egypt won’t play you back at Arsenal you face a possibility of quarantine and loose a already slim chance of fighting for a spot in the Arsenal team..
Methinks Elneny has learned the ways of our manager…promises/assurances are always honoured even when they make no sense whatsoever for the greater good, like Willian, Xhaka, Luiz and Ode/Real
Elneny scored today… 🤔
And what a goal it was! He only scores worldies..
I tell u @Sue what a curl !!! He has scored same kind of goals for Egypt very often so don’t know why he was being benched at first.
It was a beauty, Dhoni!! I reckon it was fake news – can’t imagine him arguing with anyone!!
He even let Salah wear the captain’s armband for the first time – such a nice guy!