Arsenal new-boy Mohamed Elneny has expressed his delight at joining the north London club.
The Egyptian international became the first to for the Gunners from the north African country during the Arsene Wenger era, after signing from Swiss giants FC Basel earlier this month.
Speaking to Arsenal’s official website on joining the club, Elneny described it as a ‘great honour’.
Every player would be so proud to play for Arsenal, if they were Egyptian or not Egyptian.
Being the first Egyptian player to play for Arsenal is a great honour and that makes me very happy.
I am very keen to work hard in the Premier League – that’s for my own reputation and Egypt’s reputation, and to show everyone that Egyptian players are capable of playing very well in the Premier League.
The 23-year-old grew up and took his first football steps in Egypt – a country that is known for its incredibly hot weather.
Elneny admitted that playing for 10-hours a day in the north African country has prepared him for the physical side of the game, while praising both his parents’ impact from an early stage on him becoming a successful professional footballer.
My father is a football coach back home in Egypt in my town, Almahalah.
He has a big passion for football and he always made sure that I accompanied him at every match he had been to, and the training sessions as well. He always had the dream and loved to see me as a footballer.
We would play in the hot weather for more than 10 hours sometimes. That is very normal in Egypt. I was the same as any Egyptian kid because we all have a very strong passion for football. We would head straight to the football grounds as soon as we left the classroom.
My parents played a big role in creating this passion in me towards football and they encouraged me to play football. It is really nice and important to have such encouraging parents, I am really grateful to them.
My mother, she would accompany me in every club I went to. Since I was born my parents wanted to see me as a footballer and they are behind this passion I have for football. I sensed their support at home. It’s really nice to see that they love your job or the job you love to do, and that really helped me a lot.
Elneny was an unused substitute in Arsenal’s 0-0 draw at the Britannia Stadium against Stoke City, and will likely feature next Sunday when the Gunners welcome the visit of Premier League strugglers Chelsea.
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