Many Arsenal fans may consider that Mohamed Elneny is a sort of panic buy brought on by the injuries sustained to Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla, but I am sure that Wenger and his scouts would have had the Egyptian midfielder under observation for a long long time before deciding to make an offer.
The most important thing for a January “panic buy” is that they adapt quickly and are ready to play as soon as possible. Wenger obviously is confident that this will be the case. “Overall I believe he will be a good addition to the squad,” Le Prof said on Arsenal.com. “First he has not come in straight to a big club, he had an intermediate stay in Europe so the adaptation is less of a question mark.
“He is 23 years old and has already got Champions League, Europa League and Swiss League experience. He is a player who is adaptable in midfield.
“He can be box to box and be a holding midfielder so that is for us very promising. We wanted a versatile player and I wanted a player who can play defensive but can as well play to box to box.
“His strengths are his technical level, his vision, his intelligence, his disciplined attitude and his physical attitude to compete at a high level. I think he has the physical qualities to play at the top level.
“Where he needs to adapt is to the challenges, the force needed in the Premier League to survive. I think that could demand a little bit of adaptation. But overall I think he has all the attributes to do well.”
One of the thinks I like about Elneny is that he not only has extensive European experience with Basle, but he has also been used to the temperatures he can expect in England. Another BIG plus is the fact that he has made over 50 appearances for Basle in each of the last two seasons and has not sustained any injuries.
I’m sure he will fit right in and I believe he can play at least a few minutes in Sunday’s game at Stoke…..