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| Mo' Elneny, Photo: Independent UK |
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has
confirmed that the deal to bring in Basel
and Egyptian midfielder Mohammed Elneny will be completed early next week.
Wenger described the deal as
complicated because of the issues presumably surrounding the player’s work
permit. This is the case because of the recent work permit rules introduced by
the English FA last year, where a player must not only have played 75% of his
country’s matches in the last two years, but he must also be from a country
ranked within the first 50 in the world in FIFA rankings. Egypt are
currently ranked 54 position in the world, which makes it
complicated to secure a work permit for the player. Under the old rule with was
the first ranked 75 countries, he would have easily met the criteria.
Despite the holdup, negotiations
have since been completed with Swiss club Basel
with a fee in the region of £7million agreed. The club announced on Tuesday
that the player missed training because of his imminent transfer, and a
teammate of his took to the social media too wish him goodluck at Arsenal,
which all add up that what is holding the deal up, is the delay in securing
work permit.
Arsene Wenger commented on the
situation in his press conference of Friday,
“The
deal is complicated a little bit” he said “we work hard on it. We hope in the
next two to three days we get to the end of it.”
He went further to emphasise what
the signing would mean to Arsenal’s season when it goes through.
“He
[Elneny] will at least be one of the signings and comes in an area where we are
short at the moment”
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