Arsenal loanee Mohamed Elneny has spoken to Milliyet and given the first interview since his transfer to the Turkish newspaper’s Besiktas journalist Serdar Saridag.

Elneny recently signed for the Super Lig side on a season’s long loan deal after finding his chances at Arsenal limited.

The Egyptian midfielder has revealed he spoke to Arsenal teammate Mesut Ozil before deciding to join Besiktas earlier this month:

“Mesut is an amazing man. He is a person that I really care about. We had wonderful moments together at Arsenal. Of course, I spoke with him before my decision to come to Besiktas. Mesut knows the country very well.

“He advised me to join Besiktas. After I completed my move to the club, I called him and invited him here.”

Elneny went on to say he thinks he could be a success at Besiktas, and praised the playing style of the Istanbul club’s manager Abdullah Avci. The 27 year old said Avci’s style is very similar to what he saw with Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp in the Premier League.

With his move to Besiktas the central midfielder now has the chance to kickstart his career after being frozen out at the Emirates in the past 12 months. The player is still contracted to the Gunners until June 2022.

Letting everyone know he’s good friends with Ozil won’t do him any harm.