Mohammed Elneny admitted that when his loan at Besiktas had come to an end he had not spoken to Mikel Arteta about whether he still had a future at Arsenal, “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.”
If Mikel Arteta has taught us anything in charge at Arsenal it's that he likes players with a good attitude and that will bring a positive influence into the dressing room.
Elneny has been given plenty of opportunities to impress at the start of this season. He had an excellent game in the Community Shield and then followed that up by starts in the Premier League against Fulham and Sheffield United.
“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% for the team.”
Old regime
Elneny said he felt a bit lost during Unai Emery's reign. He was not getting many minutes on the pitch and needed the loan move to play regular football again and rediscover his confidence.
“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, on a one-year loan, I played always and brought the confidence back, and when I came back here I saw everyone happy for me to come back.”
A new start?
The reception Elneny received is another example of Arteta creating a really close bond between the team and further demonstrates his attitude as a coach.
He will pick players that want to be at Arsenal and show a good attitude. That is why there are so many chances given to the younger players like Bukayo Saka and Maitland-Niles and also why players, like Elneny and David Luiz have been given second chances to play for Arsenal.
“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 feel wanted, all the time, every day,” he added. “I think in any job if you wake up in the morning, try to learn new things and try to improve every day… this is what is always in my mind when I wake up. I have to go training, I need to improve myself in everything.”
Elneny will probably always be a player that divides fans over whether he is good enough to get to where Arsenal ultimately want to be.
Realistically he is not going to be grabbing headlines with his goal contributions and man of the match performances either but that is not his role.
The biggest praise you can probably give him is that you don't really notice him because he do his job in the midfield and always puts in decent performances.
It is similar to what Nacho Monreal did during his time at the club, always good without being spectacular. But right now Arsenal are in a rebuilding phase where the attitude of the players is just as important as the quality of them.
The signing of Thomas Partey may decrease the playing time that Elneny gets but as long as he keeps working hard to improve as a player, he will always be given chances to impress by Arteta.