Mohamed Elneny still has role to play at Arsenal

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Mohamed Elneny could remain at Arsenal for the upcoming season, and I for one am not overly annoyed.

Formation

It is looking like Mikel Arteta will favour 433 once he has all the pieces of the puzzle in place.

That means Arsenal will need 6 central midfielders to cover the 3 positions – and a mixture of out and defensive, box to box and more creative players.

At the club we currently have:

Granit Xhaka (Defensive)
Dani Ceballos (Box to box / Creative)
Lucas Torreira (Box 2 box / Defensive)
Matteo Guendouzi (Box to box)
Mohamed Elneny (Defensive / Box to Box)
Joe Willock (Box to box)

So 6 into 3 goes well – although that 6 does lack creativity.

We are then heavily linked with Thomas Partey (box to box / defensive) and Houssem Aouar (creative).

Partey would be a “like for like “ swap with Lucas Torreira, whilst Houssem Aouar would offer Arteta a more creative option  over Matteo Guendouzi.

That would then see us with:

Granit Xhaka (Defensive)
Dani Ceballos (Box to box / Creative)
Thomas Partey (Box 2 box / Defensive)
Houssem Aouar (Creative)
Mohamed Elneny (Defensive / Box to Box)
Joe Willock (Box to box)
Willian can also play deeper, but he is also more of a creative outlet rather than being defensive or box to box.

Elneny would provide good cover for Xhaka in the middle.

Value

Fact is, Arsenal do not raise much money by selling Mohamed Elneny.

I am sure the club would rather keep Lucas Torreira and sell the Egyptian, but you are looking at one player raising close to £25million, whilst the other less than £10million.

Elneny would not provide us with the cash needed to push through a deal for Partey or Auoar.

Contract

Likewise, Elneny is only on a reported £50,000 a week, which does not really pay for much these days.

Best Xhaka back up

If we sold Elneny alongside Torreira and Guendouzi; and signed the two aforementioned player, we would have 5 midfielders. That feels light.

So could we get better than Elneny for the transfer fee he would command, and the wages he is on? Probably not.

An argument could be made that Ainsley Maitland-Niles could be the 6th midfielder, but his services might be required elsewhere. Likewise some might see Willian as being the 6th midfield. But then we do not really have the defensive cover for Xhaka.

It would mean either playing Partey, Ceballos or Willock in the middle of the 3.

This would restrict both players who like to roam and press. The middle man needs to be fairly static.

Elneny between the two would be our strongest midfield if Xhaka was out

Professionalism

There has never been a hint of trouble around Elneny though out his career. He is a solid professional.

He is the exact character and ability you would want in your 2nd string.

Squad Balance

To build a squad, you need great balance – in position and ability.

There is no point having a midfield entirely made up of Xavi’s, you need a Bousquet. Likewise a midfield of Bousquet’s needs a Xavi.

You can not have a squad of 25 superstars. The ego’s will clash. You need some players who accept that they are second string, and happy to do so.

Elneny will provide the midfield with some balance, and would also understand he is a squad player, not a starter.

He might be one of those players that many have on the “sell” list, but Mo Elneny is also a player that still has a role to play in Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.

Keenos

Arsenal’s lack of transfer movement only “frustrating” for those who profit off speculation

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Morning all.

Todays blog comes from South West trains as I commute to my office for the first time since March.

I see a lot of moaning across social media this morning about Arsenal’s “lack of transfer activity”.

It seems that if you are not demanding the club spend £100m+ on new players, you get labelled as “unambitious” and “accepting mediocracy”. This is simply not the case.

The majority of fans realise the way of the world. That despite Stan Kroenke being worth $8.3b, it does not mean he has 100’s of millions in cash that he can pump into Arsenal.

Let’s remember, Kroenke has had to take out loans to complete the LA Rams stadium, KSE had to take out a loan to buy out Alisher Usmanov and further loans to then loan Arsenal money to pay off the stadium debt.

Most billionaires are not “cash rich”. Their wealth is held in property, investments, businesses, etc.

Fans also realise that we run a self-sufficient model, and that is the best way to ensure Arsenal have a short, medium and long term future. We want our kids, our grand kids, to have an Arsenal to support.

Ultimately, who actually has done a lot of business this summer?

Chelsea have spent big, but they were always going to having come off a transfer ban.

Leeds have done similar business to what the likes of Aston Villa and Fulham have done in previous years.

They have spent over a decade outside of the Premier League and have a Championship budget. Even with a lack of fans in grounds, they will see their revenue increase for 2020/21, so have money to spend.

Then comes Tottenham, who have spent £65m. But £32m of that was on Giovani Lo Celso, a deal agreed back in January. That deal was financed by the January sale of Cristian Ericksen.

Without that transfer, they would have spent just £32.4m, or just £20.1m net.

People have moaned that “Wovles have spent £40m on a teenager”.

Firstly, it is not what you spend but who you buy (I would not want Arsenal spending £40m on a player with a dozen first team games under his belt – also I imagine it is only £40m if he goes on the win the Ballon D’or).

Secondly, Wolves have received £34.5m in transfer fees this summer. So it is not a case of “their owners are investing”. They are in the same situation as almost every other club – having to sell to buy.

Every Premier League club will be looking to balance the books this summer.

Arsenal have 32 senior players. Only an idiot would think that we could bring in another 2 or 3 players without firstly having sold the likes of Lucas Torreira, Rob Holding or Matteo Guendouzi.

It is easy to sit there are say “look how much they have spent” or “why are Arsenal not more active” whilst sitting in a position of ignorance because you do not actually understand how things work.

It is also easy for fans to forget that Arsenal have signed 4 players this summer: Gabriel, Willian, Pablo Mari & Cedric Soares, whilst William Saliba has also finally joined the club for last summers transfer.

Arsenal are also being linked with less players than normal.

This probably indicates that:

  1. We know who are targets are
  2. Our targets are already public knowledge
  3. The media know linking us to other players is pointless

I imagine those getting frustrated by a perceived lack of transfer action, and very little speculation are only annoyed because they can not profit from regurgitating the same news.

Releasing your 20th blog on Thomas Partey no longer generates the hits!

Kind of linking in to transfers, there is an interesting article on the BBC about what Premier League teams have done with season tickets for 2020/21.

It is interesting to see those clubs who have already charged their fans full price for a season ticket (Burnley, Everton, Southampton, West Ham), whilst other clubs are also not giving fans the option to opt out for the season.

Those telling fans “renew or lose it” include Burnley, Crystal Palace, Everton, Leicester City, Southampton, Tottenham and West Ham.

Last bit of news if you have not already seen it, we got drawn away to Leicester in the League Cup. The winners will be whoever takes it the most serious.

Have a good Monday

Keenos

Arsenal snub Ozil whilst he makes return to action

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Morning all (at least it is still morning when I started writing!)

Later than usual blog from me on a Sunday. I took the advantage of being on part-time furlough to spend some time with family in Suffolk.

Cracking weekend for this to be fair. Bought a sofa. Got a great deal on it as the sofa shop I bought it from had a sale on.

Yesterday was all about Mesut Ozil’s return in an Arsenal shirt as we lost 3-2 in a friendly at home to Aston Villa.

Never read too much into friends results. Clubs use games for different reasons and teams can be at different stages of development prior to the start of pre-season.

Some saw the return of Ozil as redemption. That he has returned to Mikel Arteta’s plans for the new season.

But then we have the photo from our friends over at The Arsenal History – a great source of reading material written by a couple of lads who really know their stuff. Readdresses many a myth about Arsenal’s history. I digress.

So that photo taken by Andy Kelly.

In the Armoury printing area, there are two notable omissions on the wall.

Mesut Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi.

Hector Bellerin is on it twice, as is Bukayo Saka. Out-on-loan Kostadinos Mavropanos is also on the wall. And the likes of Sokratis, Lucas Torreira and Rob Holding. All of whom are likely to leave the club this week.

But no Matteo Guendouzi or Mesut Ozil.

So on one hand Arsenal are not advertising the 2 ostracised players names and numbers, and then on the other Mesut Ozil was involved in the friendly against Aston Villa.

Read into this what you will.

Late Friday night Arsenal confirmed Dani Ceballos’ return to the club on loan. A good deal.

This time round Arsenal are paying no loan fee, but the Spaniards full wages.

When you consider last season we were paying 50% of Henrik Mkhitaryan’s £180k wages whilst out on loan to Roma, Arsenal will be financially up across the 2 deals.

Ceballos is the 2nd piece in the Arteta 3 man midfield jigsaw. The first being Granit Xhaka.

Expect at least one more signing in the middle of the park to go the other side of Xhaka. Hopefully Thomas Partey who will provide a physical presence in the middle and defensive cover on the right hand side of the pitch.

That defensive cover could be important if we play Ainsley Maitland-Niles at right back in a back 4.

Partey performed well at right back for Atlético Madrid against Arsenal a few years back.

It would be an exciting attacking option for Arsenal to have AMN pushing forward and Nicolas Pepe cutting inside, with Partey dropping deeper and wider to cover them.

We might even get a 2nd new central midfielder (someone more creative such as Houssem Aouar) to give us 4 senior options for 3 places. Will give Arteta the choice to go more attacking, or more defensive depending on the opponent.

So remember, season ticket holders. If you wish to go to games this season, renew now and ballot registrations are open.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Keenos