Arteta reveals Elneny's future at Arsenal is already decided but 'difficult'

The 29-year-old Pharaoh stepped in well in the absence of injured Thomas Partey as the Gunners battled for a top-four finish

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has revealed midfielder Mohamed Elneny’s contract situation at the club has already been sorted out.

The 29-year-old Egypt international is among the three key players at the Gunners whose contracts are running down at the end of the season. The other two include Ghana prospect Eddie Nketiah and Alexandre Lacazette.

Speaking to the media after Arsenal wrapped up the season with a 5-1 Premier League win against Everton at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, Arteta was asked about the players out of contract.

“I will speak to the three players now or tomorrow and after that, we need to start to move on but we have clear ideas of what we want to do,” Arteta told Arsenal's official website.

On whether the future of the players out of contract has already been decided, the Spanish tactician said: “It’s been decided but it’s very difficult to communicate it, what they deserve is to have a little bit of what they had today.

“But to do it earlier, one way or the other with three situations like that is very, very awkward and it could affect the team. So as a club we have to do the right thing in the right moment and sometimes to combine those two issues is not easy at all, but we will try to do the right thing.”

Arteta further revealed his desire to keep Nketiah, who was among the goals against the Toffees, in the squad for next season.

“When you see Eddie train in the way he trains, he doesn’t even need to play, you know that you have a player there that is going to help you and he’s done that,” explained Arteta.

“Look at his numbers with the amount of games that he’s played, it’s terrific.”

Since the injury to Ghana international Thomas Partey, Elneny took control of the Arsenal midfield alongside Granit Xhaka. In total, he managed to make 14 appearances overall and accumulated 800 minutes of playing time.

The midfielder also provided two Premier League assists in this term. In last season's Premier League, Elneny appeared in 23 games for Arsenal and scored one goal.