Many Arsenal supporters have been anticipating the arrival of Mohamed Elneny from Basel for the last week, the fee a reported £5m from Basel.
However, potentially disappointing news comes in the form of claims that the Egyptian midfielder had not yet signed a contract, which he was due to do on Wednesday after his medical the day before.
Many people have been speculating as to why the transfer hasn’t gone through, some assume that he failed the medical or that Basel manager Urs Fischer changed his mind, but these all seem unlikely.
It appears that Elneny does not have a work permit to play for a Premier League team, and if he doesn’t get one, both he and Arsene Wenger have to weave their way through the new point system that judges wages and European playtime. It sounds complicated, but simply, they need to get as many points as they can using a number of rules.
– The value of the transfer fee being paid for the player is in the top 25% of all transfer to Premier League clubs in the previous 2 windows – 3 points.
– The value of the transfer fee being paid for the player is between the 50th and 75% of all transfer to Premier League clubs in the previous 2 windows – 2 points.
– The wages being paid to the player by the applicant club is in the top 25% of the top 30 earners at the club. – 3 points.
– The wages being paid to the player by the applicant club are between the 50th and 75th% of all the top 30 earners at the club – 2 points.
-The player’s current club is in a top league and the player has played in more than 30% of the first team domestic games this season – 1 point.
The player’s current club has played in the group stage or onwards of the UEFA Champions League, or any other European competition in the last 12 months, whilst playing over 30% of the games.
This means it would be very unlikely for Elneny to get any points, mainly because the Swiss Super League is not in the top six leagues, so that limits him in many categories. He would need at least five points to qualify.
None of this has yet to be confirmed by either club or Uefa, but if true, the Gunners could struggle in bringing Elneny in this January.
