Arsenal midfield surgery confirmed as Jorginho cavalry arrives slowly
Mohamed Elneny has undergone surgery on a ‘significant’ knee injury, Arsenal have confirmed.
The Egypt international suffered the injury in training ahead of the Premier League win at Tottenham earlier this month and Elneny now faces a race against time to be fit again this season.
‘Following an injury sustained in a recent training session, subsequent assessments have confirmed that Mohamed Elneny has a significant injury to his right knee,’ a club statement read.
‘Mo has had successful surgery in London and will be ruled out for an extended period of time.
‘A more detailed timescale will be established once the early stages of rehabilitation have been completed.
‘Everyone at the club will be offering Mo all the support he needs and working hard with him so he can return to action as soon as possible.’
The 30-year-old is out of contract this summer but the Premier League leaders have an option to extend his deal by another year.
Elneny joined Arsenal seven years ago and has made 155 appearances for the Gunners.
His injury saw Arsenal target a midfielder in the January window, with Chelsea’s Jorginho the name they settled on after failing with two offers for Brighton’s Moises Caicedo.
Jorginho will sign for an initial £10m with a contract until 2024 but with an option for a further year.
“We need some more cover in midfield ideally if we can,” said boss Mikel Arteta this week. “In this market it’s pretty complicated to do that. The most important thing is that we get the performances and the time on the pitch that we need with the players we have available today that are already really good.”
First-choice central midfield pairing Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey are being run into the ground because there is a lack of quality cover, with Albert Sambi Lokonga convincing nobody that he is ready to step in for a title-challenging side.
Lokonga is the subject of loan enquiries from Crystal Palace with Arteta making it clear that he does not trust the Belgian.
Comparing Jorginho’s 22-23 stats to Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey