Arsène Wenger has suggested Mohamed Elneny has the same competitive instincts as the great France midfielder Jean Tigana, as he prepares to give the January signing from Basel his Arsenal debut in Saturday’s FA Cup tie at home to Burnley.
The manager said that “you don’t win with kids any more, unfortunately, against the Championship teams” and he has promised to pick “quite an experienced” lineup, which could also feature Francis Coquelin, who is back to fitness weeks ahead of schedule after a knee injury.
Wenger said the club had to learn from the 3-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup in October, and the lesson he appears to have taken on board is the need to pick a stronger team. Against Wednesday he started with the academy youngsters Alex Iwobi and Glen Kamara and brought on two more, Ismaël Bennacer and Krystian Bielik. He said after the game that “they were not ready to play at this level, none of them”.
Elneny, who signed two weeks ago, has been an unused substitute against Stoke City and Chelsea, and he has taken it all in from the bench. “I think he was surprised by the intensity of the game, by the challenges,” Wenger said. “At the start, the players are surprised as well by how much the referee lets go. In England, you hear the referee say a lot: ‘Get on with it.’ In other countries, he would whistle.”
Elneny made his name as a defensive midfielder at Basel but he added more forward-thinking elements – most notably goals – over the first half of this season, leading Wenger to believe that the Egypt international can also work in a box-to-box role. The 23-year-old is not a physically imposing player and his challenge will be to adapt to the aggression of the English game, but Wenger believes he has the attributes to do so.
“Winning the ball is not only down to power, it is to switch on at the right moment – it’s a technique,” Wenger said. “You have players who are muscular who lose fights against small players who are very slim because small players switch it on at the right moment. When do you switch your muscle on, when the guy is in a weak position, it is a real technique.
“I remember Tigana was 63kg, a defensive midfielder and he was unbelievable defensively. He had that technique. I played against him [in a kickabout] at the European Championship in Sweden in 1992 and he was still the same – he won every challenge.
“Elneny is not a monster. Usually, Middle Eastern people have big stamina, agility and sometimes lack a bit of power, so he is not a powerhouse. He’s more of a mobility player. That is why I think he can suit our game.”
Arsenal secured Elneny for an initial £5m – the deal could rise to £7.4m – and Wenger said that the price had been relatively low because of the lack of competition for his signature. “Maybe, it was because we were the only club interested,” Wenger said. “He was not basically too much on the radar, not too many people spoke of him. We identified him as having the potential to do it and I think we were right. Now, he has to show that. It is a next step, a big step for him, to come out from Switzerland. To go to the Premier League, of course, is not easy but I think it is the right age for him.”
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