Former Arsenal boss Unai Emery has been accused of neglecting Arsenal star Mohamed Elneny, who could have been the club’s next Patrick Vieira, according to a report in the Mirror.
According to the report, former Arsenal player Gilberto Silva has blamed ex-Gunners boss Unai Emery of freezing out Elneny by sending the player out on loan to Besiktas and inserting a buy-out clause in his contract.
According to Gilberto Silva, Elneny was one of the few Arsenal players who had attributes that could be compared to Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira.
The Egyptian midfielder Elneny was bought by Arsene Wenger in 2016 but failed to pin down a starting spot in the team after the French manager left the club.
The player was then sent out on loan in 2019 by Unai Emery with current Gunners boss Mikel Arteta unable to observe the Egyptian international in training.
Speaking about Elneny and Arsenal’s squad to France Football as cited in the Mirror, former Gunners player Gilberto Silva said:
“In the last few years, the situation has been difficult at Arsenal,”
“They have very similar players in midfield, with profiles that resemble each other and not really players of the profile of Patrick Vieira, or even my profile.”
“The only individual who resembled [us], that could have been Mohamed Elneny, but he didn’t play. But they have not really had those types of players to cover the defensive midfield position.”
“Arsenal always plays positively, trying to deploy an attacking game, and it is not easy to find someone to marry the ability to play the forward game and to do the work in the shadows in the defensive phases.” he added
Gilberto Silva’s comments come as no surprise given Arsenal’s failings under Unai Emery as the club now look to bounce back to their past glory under new boss Mikel Arteta.