Newfound confidence changed Elneny for the better!
Falling down the pecking order under Unai Emery, it seemed as though Mohamed Elneny’s future at the club was coming to an end. But forward on nearly a year, with a new manager at the helm at Arsenal and Elneny now feels like he is part of the team and is wanted again.
Low on confidence and being loaned out to Besiktas in Turkey, it seemed as though Elneny would no longer be an Arsenal player upon his return. Mikel Arteta saw otherwise though and has shown faith in our midfielder ever since his return.
Talking to Talksport, Elneny says he now feels wanted at Arsenal having rediscovered his confidence from Besiktas, carrying it through under Mikel Arteta:
“Before I came to London, I didn’t speak to him and I was a bit…. not stressed, but just thinking about what would he like. When I sat with him, I said, ‘The way you train, the way you want to play is the way I love to play’ and really I love the way we train, the way he is assisting everything in the club now and it makes me excited to give 100 per cent for the team. Under Emery, I was not playing much, that is why you can lose your confidence and your feeling to play. That is why when I went to Besiktas, I played always and brought the confidence back, and when I came back here I saw everyone happy for me to come back. Everyone was excited to see me back, and when I trained, everyone gave me good feedback, saying ’Mo, you did well’ and this makes you get your confidence back. I will build it and build it and every day I try to learn new things. [I now feel wanted], all the time, every day.”
I am happy for Elneny, to feel wanted and to feel part of a team again is the best thing ever and of course keeping him, also saved us money as we didn’t have to go out and buy a midfielder to replace him.
As we have seen he has come back a reformed and more confident player and long may it continue. Gooners?
Shenel Osman