Mathieu Flamini is one player that continues to divide opinions. Since his second return to the club, he has been on the fringes but found himself getting an extended run of games in recent weeks. This is due to the fact that Arsenal’s primary holding midfielder, Francis Coquelin, suffered a knee injury in November following a poor challenge from West Brom’s Claudio Yacob.
In the wake of that injury crisis, the manager has attempted Calum Chambers in the holding position and he has done his bit in that role but in Flamini, the club had a more experienced individual that could do a decent job when selected.
It’s not as if Flamini has been a world beater or he has done anything to justify his place when Coquelin is fully fit but I must say that he hasn’t been as bad as person believe he is. Maybe those set of fans are still thinking it’s the 2007/08 season where he was a phenom in the middle of the park with Cesc Fabregas. Wake up people!
Flamini still makes those rash challenges here and there that would want to make you remove some hair from your head, but if you consider the fact that he’s a stop gap option for an injured first team player, you would look at him in different light.
Then there’s the new signing, Mohamed Elneny. In all honesty, I’ve never seen the lad play. My best bet would have been to watch him in FC Basel’s Europa League games but I’m not all about Thursday night Tottenham football. Like many fans out there, I’ve feasted on some of that YouTube goodness but we all know that compilations don’t tell the full story.
I was hoping that Elneny gets a taste of the big time soon and he’s odds on to make his debut against Burnley this weekend, and due to his versatility, he can feature in the box to box role, or the holding midfield role. Will Wenger opt for Elneny has the holding midfielder to accommodate another box-to-box player? Will he feature in the middle alongside Calum Chambers? This is certainly the manager’s headache, not mine.
However, with Coquelin and Elneny very much around, it could signal the end of the Flamster. It is believed that he’s one of the senior players, alongside Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky that will not be offered a new deal at the end of the season.
It’s been a nice ride with Flamini that has seen him play 200+ games in his two stints with the club. Only heaven knows what the future has in store for Flamini but I know it won’t be at Arsenal.
I’m sure Mesut Ozil will miss the Frenchman. Their bromance is well publicized.
Sayonara
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