Arsenal Player Set For Position Change Next Season

If Mohamed Elneny is an Arsenal player next season, it appears as though he will be playing in a new role for the campaign.

The Egyptian international, a reported £7.4 million signing from Basel in 2016, struggled collectively for game-time in his preferred role as a central midfield player last season.

He has been heavily linked with a move to Turkish outfit Galatasaray, but with the way Arsene Wenger is talking, you'd think he is very much in the Frenchman's plans at the Emirates Stadium next season.

Image: PA

As a result of the Gunners having limited options in central defence in pre-season due to Shkodran Mustafi and Gabriel being unavailable because of the Confederations Cup and injury respectively, Elneny has been used as a centre-back in a back three - a system that Wenger is sticking with after the success it brought at the back-end of last season.

And it appears as though Arsenal fans should get used to him being deployed in the role in the coming season.

Speaking to the media, and quoted by the Daily Mail, in a recent press conference ahead of the annual Emirates Cup pre-season competition, Wenger said:

"Overall, I played players like [Mohamed] Elneny in a back three and he has coped very well. [Ainsley] Maitland-Niles sometimes played at centre back as well, even in the big games against Chelsea. You see their strengths and their weaknesses, and you learn a lot about your players and your combinations too.

"Elneny is a player who has a fantastic mentality and attitude, and his main target is to help the team. When he plays there, of course he does extremely well.

"I always felt that a good central midfielder can be a good centre back. With the fact of course that when you're playing in the back four you have to be decisive in the challenges, you have a bit more flexibility in the middle of a back three. He can do that."

Image: PA

Is Elneny at centre-back a disaster waiting to happen for Arsenal next term? Should Wenger go all out for a top-level defender rather than playing a holding midfielder there?

Sound off in the comments section below.

Topics: Arsene Wenger, Arsenal

Josh Lawless

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