As gooners resentment grew at the back end of last season, this man grew into a scapegoat, and if many have their way he will be off the wage bill this summer.
Mohamed Elneny – Played 89 Scored 2
The reality is he only featured 8 times in the Prem last campaign so can hardly be blamed for us not qualifying for the Champions League. He mostly played in the cups with Unai Emery trusting him less then Arsene Wenger did.
Many have observed the midfielder likes to pass sideways, slowing down our play. The truth is every squad has someone like the Egyptian, someone who comes in and does the simple things.
Even back when we were winning titles you had fringe players who had their limitations. I would never question the man’s work rate and feel that when he’s your sole DM, he does what his criteria is. Where his manager lets him down is starting him with a Torreria or Guendouzi. That’s too negative forcing one to do something they are not comfortable doing.
You can tell by his tweets he loves being at such a big club and you imagine him being popular in the dressing room. He’s an excellent example of someone who might be hard to offload. He will know any move will be a backwards step. An option might be a return to Basel where he was a success, but he might be happy being paid a huge salary just to play in the League Cup.
It does make modern fans hypocritical. We call a player disloyal when we don’t want them to leave yet don’t support those who want to stay. He’s an integral part of a national team going through a good period, having got Egypt to their third World Cup and currently hosting the Cup of Nations, a competition they finished as runners-up in 2017.
Dan Smith