Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has stated this is not the right time to discuss the future of Egypt international Mohamed Elneny.
The 29-year-old, who joined the Gunners from Basel in 2016, has been used sparingly at the club and is linked with a move away from the club. Ahead of the North Londoners' match away to Liverpool on Saturday, the Spanish tactician was asked about the future of the Egypt international.
"Again, I am really happy with Mo. I won't be discussing individually other players, and it’s not time to do so," Arteta said as quoted by the club's website.
The midfielder is contracted to Arsenal until the summer of 2022, but to get playing time regularly, he will have to prove he is better than Albert Sambi Lokonga, Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka, and recently Ainsley Maitland-Niles who was preferred in the Gunners' recent league assignment against Watford.
Regarding the trip to Anfield, the former midfielder hinted how he has psychologically prepared his players.
"If somebody is not with that mindset, they should not put the shirt on and go to Anfield [on Saturday] and then as I said you have to raise individually your game to your best, emotionally, physically, technically and tactically you have to be able to suffer in the right moments because there’s going to be moments where you’re going to have to do that and then as a team you have to have very clear ideas of what you’re going to do on that pitch to beat that side," Arteta continued.
"Yes [we can beat Liverpool] because of all the reasons that I said, what I see and because if not, there’s no point travelling and you always have to find the reasons to believe that your team can go there and beat them.
"It’s one of the toughest places to go in the league, that’s for sure. For the environment, the energy that the stadium creates, the quality of the opponent, the quality of the coach that they have, for many reasons, that’s why they’ve been where they’ve been in the last few years, but we know that and we have to focus on what we can do and what we have to do."
Arsenal are fifth on the Premier League table with 22 points, one less than the Reds who are placed fourth.
