Mohamed Elneny’s transfer from Basel to Arsenal has been held up by work permit problems, but, as reported by ESPN, Arsene Wenger is confident of being able to announce something this week.
The Egyptian’s move has been in the pipeline since the end of December when it was reportedly agreed upon between the Gunners and the Swiss club.
But it hasn’t been formally concluded due to visa issues, causing Wenger to adjust his prediction from Friday when he said it would be sorted within “two or three days”.
We are positive that this week it can happen. The situation should be sorted out this week.
There are a lot of work permit problems and special paperwork to do, and visa, so we hope we can finalise it this week.
As long as it’s not definitely signed, you have to be cautious. But I am optimistic about the case.
The plan was to have the midfielder in the door immediately to provide cover for the injured Francis Coquelin.
However, that has been scuppered with the paperwork problems, meaning Arsenal will travel to Liverpool on Wednesday with the same squad that featured in the last Premier League game against Newcastle.
That includes the scintillating Mesut Ozil and Mathieu Flamini, who were not involved against Sunderland in the FA Cup.
The Arsenal manager has hinted at being busier than usual this transfer window. On a more general point, he was optimistic that activity will be heightened with clubs eager to reach their individual targets.
I would say for the media, you could have some good news with the January transfer window because I believe many clubs will be active.
You go from the clubs who are down in the table like [Aston] Villa, they have to do something, to the clubs at the top as well, I am sure many of them will be very active. It could be my prediction that it could be one of the most active transfer windows in January that we have seen.
