Arsene Wenger will follow up Elneny’s signing with a more established midfielder along with two more major signings in the summer.
Arsenal finally completed the signing of Mohamed Elneny and now several reports suggest it will spark a summer transfer shake-up.
Wenger is looking to follow up the deal for Elneny with a more established midfielder at the end of this season with Victor Wanyama from Southampton remains his top priority target.
Arsenal are also in the race for a top quality striker with Borussia Dortmund’s in-form Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Watford’s Odion Ighalo being chased heavily.
However, three veteran Gunners – Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Flamini and Tomas Rosicky are all set to leave when their current contracts run out this summer.
Flamini is right now on £80,000-a-week wage, Rosicky believed to be unhappy with very few regular games and Mikel Arteta is rumoured to be offered a coaching role at the Emirates.
Keeping these facts in mind, Arsenal manager regards Elneny as a long term prospect for the Gunners rather than just a temporary solution after he arrived from Swiss club FC Basel.
But Arsene Wenger, who wants to put Elneny straight into the team for Sunday’s match against Stoke, now admits the Egyptian midfielder will have to adapt to survive in the Premier League.
Wenger said in an interview: “Where he needs to certainly adapt is to the challenges, the force needed in the Premier League to survive. That could demand a little bit of adaptation but overall he has all the ingredients to do well.
“I believe he will be a good addition to the squad for many reasons. The first is that he is not coming straight from Egypt to a big club. He has an intermediary stay in Europa so the adaptation problem is less of a question mark.
“Secondly, he’s 23 years old and he already has experience in the Champions League and Europe League.
“As well he is a player who is adaptable in midfield. He can be a box-to-box player but can be a holding player as well.
“His strengths are his technical level, his vision, his intelligence and his disciplined attitude and his physical aptitude to compete at a high level.”
Meanwhile Elneny added: “Arsenal is one of the world’s greatest teams, and I am very keen to participate positively with my new team, God willing, and to give my best for the team and for myself.
“I would like to tell [the fans] that, although you have not seen much of me, I promise I will contribute positively with the team. I am hoping that we win the Premier League and cup this season, and the Champions League as well.”
Wenger likes to use Mohamed Elneny as Francis Coquelin’s replacement until the Frenchman returns from injury. But it will be interesting to see when Coquelin returns how the battle for the first team shirt will continue between these two players.
Another central midfield option Santi Cazorla is also out with injury. The 30-year-old Spaniard was injured early in the second half of the Gunner’s draw with Norwich but managed to remain on the field for the rest of the match. He later underwent surgery on his knee and is still sidelined.
In the absence of Coquelin, Flamini has so far done a decent job, but it is widely accepted that he is not the man to go for in the long run if Arsenal actually want to win the league title.