Aston Villa reportedly have their eyes on securing a transfer deal for Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny.
The north London club signed the midfielder during the 2016 January transfer window and have since seen him go on to make 154 appearances for the Gunners.
17 of those appearances came under the management of Unai Emery when he was Arsenal’s manager.
As things stand, Elneny’s contract at the Emirates is set to expire at the end of the season, but the club has an option to add an extra year to his deal.
With that yet to happen, the £55k-per-week Egyptian has found himself being linked with a potential reunion with Emery.
According to a recent article in the latest paper edition of the Sunday Mirror (via TEAMtalk), the Villa boss is keen for the Midlands club to make an offer for Elneny this month.
This season has seen the 30-year-old make just five appearances for Arsenal across all competitions, with a thigh injury keeping him out of action for a significant period of time between August and October.
If this doesn’t raise questions about why Emery is apparently keen to bring his former midfielder to Villa Park, the performances Elneny delivered for him during his time in charge of Arsenal should also make it a questionable move for the Villans to make.
Should Villa sign Mohamed Elneny?
Yes
No
Specifically, with eight league appearances under his belt across the 2018/19 campaign, the midfielder earned himself a rather underwhelming overall performance rating of 6.44/10 from WhoScored, making him one of the lowest-rated players that started at least one game for the Gunners.
Having also been criticised for his “poor” displays in more recent times by journalist Kaya Kaynak, we feel that Villa should not try and sign the Arsenal dud this month, as it’d be hard to see how he would improve their midfield.
Moving forward, if the Villans are looking to bring in a new midfielder this month, Elneny, who has been hailed as someone who offers ‘something different’, should not be one of their potential options.