Wenger: Elneny "has all the attributes to do well"

Arsene Wenger has, surprisingly, been talking about the signing of Mohamed Elneny for a little while now. Although he plays most transfers close to the vest, the Arsenal manager has been relatively direct when questioned about the 23-year-old Egyptian international. Today, however, the Arsenal site has released a video interview with Wenger in which he describes his newest signing.

Speaking to Arsenal Player of Elneny, Wenger said:

Overall I believe he will be a good addition to the squad. First he has not come in straight to a big club, he had an intermediate stay in Europe so the adaptation is less of a question mark.

He is 23 years old and has already got Champions League, Europa League and Swiss League experience. He is a player who is adaptable in midfield.

He can be box to box and be a holding midfielder so that is for us very promising. We wanted a versatile player and I wanted a player who can play defensive but can as well play to box to box.

His strengths are his technical level, his vision, his intelligence, his disciplined attitude and his physical attitude to compete at a high level. I think he has the physical qualities to play at the top level.

Where he needs to adapt is to the challenges, the force needed in the Premier League to survive. I think that could demand a little bit of adaptation. But overall I think he has all the attributes to do well.

Wenger has also said elsewhere that Elneny could feature as early as this weekend at the Britannia Stadium against Stoke City. Good luck and welcome, Mohamed!