Premier League giants Arsenal blocked Mohamed Elneny’s move to CSKA Moscow with the Russians turning to Everton midfielder Jean-Philippe Gbamin instead, the Egyptian’s agent tells Sport24.
Given that neither Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey tend to stay on the pitch for long – both were sent off during last month’s EFL Cup semi-final defeat to Liverpool – who can blame Mikel Arteta, really?
Elneny has played just 170 minutes of Premier League football this season.
Arsenal were happy to let the likes of Pablo Mari, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang head for the exit last month. But Elneny was one departure Arteta was not willing to accept.
The 29-year-old’s father admitted before Christmas that the Arsenal boss ‘wants Mohamed to stay’ amid reported interest from a number of Turkish Super Lig clubs.
And Elneny’s agent, William D’Avila, struck a similar tone when asked why Russian giants CSKA Moscow missed out on the chance to take the former Basel ace to the VEB Arena.
“There really was such an option (to sign for CSKA),” D’Avila admits.
“Why did the transfer fail? (Because) Arsenal didn’t want to let Mohamed go.”
Does Mohamed Elneny have a future at Arsenal?
Elneny’s contract expires this summer.
Despite Arteta’s undoubted admiration for the long-serving enforcer, it seems unlikely that he’ll put pen to paper on an extension. Particularly if Arsenal fight off competition to bring in Spain international playmaker Fabian Ruiz from Napoli.
The Russian transfer window closes on February 22nd.
CSKA, fourth in the table and eight points adrift of league-leaders Zenit St Petersburg, have now turned their attention to another seldom-seen Premier League enforcer.
Gbamin was left out of Frank Lampard’s squad as relegation-threatened Everton suffered a 2-0 defeat to Southampton on Saturday afternoon.
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