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Gilberto Silva believes Mohamed Elneny could have been Arsenal’s answer to Patrick Vieira

Speaking in an interview with France Football, ex-Arsenal midfielder Gilberto Silva was asked why the club had struggled to find midfielders of the profile of himself and Patrick Vieira since they both left.

“In the last few years, the situation has been difficult at Arsenal. They have very similar players in midfield, with profiles that resemble each other and not really players of the profile of Patrick Vieira, or even my profile. The only individual who resembled (us), that could have been Mohamed Elneny, but he didn’t play. But they have not really had those types of players to cover the defensive midfield position. Arsenal always plays positively, trying to deploy an attacking game, and it is not easy to find someone to marry the ability to play the forward game and to do the work in the shadows in the defensive phases.”