Arsenal have reportedly offered Mohamed Elneny to Trabzonspor with the clubs expected to meet this week to discuss a loan deal for the 28-year-old midfielder.
Mohamed Elneny’s Arsenal contract runs until 2022 and, with apparently no buyer on the horizon, the club are looking to ship him out on another loan.
Elneny spent the season just finished on loan with Besiktas but it was not a happy time for him.
He was sent off in his debut, wanted to leave the club before Christmas and then spent a large part of the season threatening to go on strike because of unpaid wages.
As a result, neither party are interested in continuing their relationship.
Gazete Damga in Turkey, via Sport Witness, report that Trabzonspor, under their new manager, have identified Elneny as someone they could use to strengthen their midfield, especially as they have lost John Obi Mikel.
The former Chelsea midfielder asked to be released from his contract due to the pandemic and was blamed by a number of fans as the reason they failed to win the league. They were top of the table before football stopped but finished four points behind the eventual champions, Basaksehir.
Elneny’s Besiktas finished third, three points behind Trabzonspor.
Last summer, Arsenal accepted a loan arrangement with Besiktas that saw them demand no fee as long as the SuperLig side covered pretty much all of Elneny’s £50kpw wages.
They also set Elneny’s asking price at €18m, which seemed excessive last summer and is even more so now, so I’d expect to see that reduced. Valued just at £4.5m on transfermarkt, I think Arsenal could probably get around £6-8m for Elneny if they could sell him this summer.
Elneny arrived at Arsenal in January 2016 when he was signed by Arsene Wenger from FC Basel for £11.25m but never really looked anything more than a squad player at best. A tidy midfielder, he was reliable but always more function than form.
He only ever scored two goals for Arsenal, both in Europe with one in the Europa League against BATE Borisov in 2017.
Elneny’s other goal, and his first for the club, came against Barcelona in his only appearance in the Champions League.
It was a rare moment of magnificence from the Egyptian.