It should have been a done deal by now and us Arsenal fans should have been getting ready to greet a new Gunner to the Emirates. But Mohamed Elneny will not be unveiled as Arsene Wenger’s first signing of the January transfer window, at least not yet.
It looks as though Arsene Wenger has taken the need for Arsenal to strengthen our midfield options very seriously, as he tries to keep up the Premier League title challenge after being hit with the injury problems to key players like Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin.
So with those two joining Arteta, Wilshere and Rosicky on the sidelines, Wenger clearly wanted to get the Elneny transfer from Basel done as quickly as possible, so the transfer fee of around £7 million is agreed and the player has already completed his medical with Arsenal, according to an ESPN report.
But then we have a problem as the 23-year old is an Egyptian international and as they are fairly low down in the FIFA rankings the work permit for him to play in England is not automatic. So Arsenal may have to appeal for special dispensation and there is no guarantee that we will get it.
Hopefully it will not be a problem and the sooner it gets sorted the better but I wonder if Wenger is already looking at other options just in case.