Speaking on his Invisible Wall Show podcast, Gilberto Silva has given Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny high praise, claiming that he’s quite an underrated player at the Emirates.
Silva was arguably the epitome of an underrated player in the Premier League era, with a lot of his work going unnoticed despite the Brazilian being a top-calibre talent, so this is certainly praise from a player who knows what he’s talking about.
The ex-Arsenal man was talking about Mikel Arteta’s decision to leave Elneny on the bench against Wolves in Monday’s game.
“Elneny was on the bench, but for me, despite the fact that not many people give him credit, I still believe that he’s got the ability to be a part of the team, to be a bit of stability,” Silva said.
“He works simple and effectively, don’t expect him to be in the spotlight, he’s a player who makes others play, you know, he’s there in front of the defenders playing simple nice and effective.”
A lot of Elneny’s work does go under the radar, but fans have had plenty of good things to say about him this season.
The Egyptian isn’t a flash player, and as Silva says, he won’t be in the spotlight, but he does the dirty work and makes very few mistakes in the middle of the park, and sometimes that’s what you need.
Perhaps Arteta should look to utilise him more in the coming weeks after leaving him on the bench against Wolves, as his partnership with Thomas Partey was key in Arsenal’s last league win against Manchester United, which was over a month ago now.
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