Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny has spent most of the last year absent with injury, but he has used his time effectively as he aims to begin a career in coaching.
Mikel Arteta, Edu Gaspar, Per Mertesacker and Jack Wilshere all have roles within the club now, having played for Arsenal in the past, and Elneny could be a player who eventually joins them once he hangs up his boots.
Journalist Charles Watts has now claimed that Elneny, who has been doing his coaching badges at the club, could be someone who follows the group of former players into other positions at Arsenal.
Coaching role for Elneny?
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Watts has now claimed that Elneny could be a player that eventually joins the coaching staff at Arsenal, not dissimilar from Jack Wilshere taking a job as the under-18s manager.
“It wouldn’t surprise me at all with Mohamed Elneny once he hangs up his boots, which I don’t think he’s ready to do just yet, but once he does, I think he’s definitely gonna move into coaching,” Watts stated.
“He’s learning his badges at Arsenal, he’s coaching the youngsters at Arsenal when he can. At the moment he’s got his academy as well, he’s launching his own Elneny FC where he’s looking to get players from a couple of age groups, sort of 11 to 18s but also an older age group as well, to try and get them into football.
“He’s putting a lot of emphasis into this and as he gets towards the end of his playing career, he’s clearly very, very excited by the prospect of moving into coaching.
“He and Granit Xhaka were doing it at Arsenal, Cedric’s doing it at Arsenal, they’re all taking advantage and doing their badges, so whether he’s being groomed to take on a role like Jack’s, I don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he were to move into coaching at Arsenal at some point.”
Elneny’s initiatives
The Egypt star has already started his coaching badges at the club, helping coach some of the youth teams, and he has now set up his own club, Elneny FC, which will help focus on youth development.
These are all excellent initiatives from the 31-year-old, and all signs point towards him having a future role at Arsenal once his playing days are up. Having joined from Basel in January 2016 for £7.4m, he is now the longest-serving player at the club, and the only player to have been in the playing squad at the same time as Arteta.
The midfielder is a likeable character in the dressing room, with captain Martin Odegaard recently praising him as one of his favourite people in the squad.
Despite his limited impact on the pitch nowadays, Elneny’s leadership and character makes him a popular player amongst the fanbase, and he would be well-received within the club should he choose to remain beyond his playing days.
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