Just in case you didn’t believe reports that Alexis Sanchez frustrated his teammates with his poor attitude behind-the-scenes at Arsenal, Mohamed Elneny’s dig at him on Twitter should convince you.
After Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Chelsea in the League Cup semi-final this week, numerous Gunners took to social media to celebrate another trip to Wembley – our second home. But it was one particular tweet that caught Arsenals fans’ attention.
Elneny, who put in a solid performance personally against Antonio Conte’s men, tweeted post-match that ‘now’ there are players at Arsenal performing for the shirt.
The ‘now’ is the important part since it implies that not everyone had that mindset before.
https://twitter.com/elnennym/status/956561273646469120
The tweet came just two days after Alexis, whose negative attitude apparently disrupted the squad, left the club and signed for Manchester United with Henrikh Mkhitaryan switching to Arsenal.
After Elneny’s previous trolling of the Chilean over the 29-year-old’s national team failing to qualify for the World Cup this summer, I’d say what could have been initially construed as ‘banter’ now appears to be anything but.
https://twitter.com/ElNennyM/status/947111775866114049
In fact, when you consider how few Gunners actually wished Alexis luck when he joined United, Elneny’s tweet definitely seems like a dig. The rest of the squad’s reluctance to wish the forward well at his new club certainly paints a picture.
Shkodran Mustafi tweeted that Arsenal are ‘all together now’ after Mkhitaryan’s first training session at London Colney and was the only Gunner to actually wish Alexis luck via a quick snap on his Instagram story.
https://twitter.com/MustafiOfficial/status/955830502040260609
In fact, more Arsenal players welcomed Mkhitaryan than said goodbye to Alexis.
https://twitter.com/ElNennyM/status/955558249390014464
https://twitter.com/MustafiOfficial/status/955507852239622150
https://twitter.com/HectorBellerin/statuses/955504577490702336
When you consider the lovely send-off some United players gave Mkhi, it does genuinely look as if the Arsenal players are glad to see the back of Alexis.
https://twitter.com/juanmata8/status/955582730477228033
https://twitter.com/youngy18/status/955521065614237696
Although Arsene Wenger tried to cover up the alleged unrest behind-the-scenes at Arsenal, tensions were reportedly running high, especially towards the end.
According to the Guardian, there was a training ground bust-up between Alexis and Laurent Koscielny back in March, which saw Alexis dropped for the next game against Liverpool.
This was after Alexis was said to have changed his mind and gone back on a ‘verbal agreement’ over signing a new deal with Arsenal.
Back in December, the Times (£) claimed the forward had even shaken hands with Ivan Gazidis over a new deal the previous year but decided not to stay after the Gunners lost 10-2 on aggregate to Bayern Munich.
There was also supposedly another fall-out after the Burnley clash in November when Alexis’ teammates were said to have ‘called him out’ over his bad attitude.
If the rumours are true, it sounds as if Alexis’ teammates were sick of his sulking and lacklustre performances. Just like the fans.
As I’ve already said, the Arsenal players’ silence and Elneny’s dig speak volumes.