Mohamed Elneny is available to make his debut at Stoke and Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal's new signing is ready to make an immediate impact in the Premier League.
The 23-year-old completed his protracted £7million move from Basel yesterday after receiving visa clearance and a work permit to play in England.
Elneny was registered by today's lunchtime deadline and so is eligible for Sunday's trip to the Britannia Stadium.
A starting place would represent a baptism of fire for Elneny given Stoke's impressive form this season and Arsenal's poor record at Stoke- they have only ever won there once in Premier League history, totalling eight visits.
Wenger insists that Elneny's experience of European football in Switzerland combined with Champions League and Europa League engagements against Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham should ensure he will hit the ground running when selected.
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"He’s a defensive midfielder who can contribute in an area where we are short," said Wenger. "He is also a promising player who has already adapted to Europe, he is not straight from Egypt to England - he has played three years in Switzerland.
"I expect him to develop into a very strong player because he has both sides of the game, he can defend and he can attack and thats the way we want to play in midfield.
"He is available for selection but I haven’t decided yet. I have to see how everyone has recovered. "Apparently we have no injuries form the Liverpool game, so he is a possibility to be in the squad for Sunday.
"I bought Elneny because he can play with a defensive player and as well he can be the defensive player. Where will his ultimate strength be? I need to know more about him with daily contact to see how well he can win the ball in the Premier League. That will be decisive to transform him into a more defensive or much more of a box-to-box player."
Wenger has not ruled out making further signings this month but claims he is more focused on players already within his squad returning from injury.
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The 66-year-old singled out Danny Welbeck, who he believes is around three weeks away from recovering after undergoing knee surgery in September.
"Ideally, personally I would prefer to have the players back from injuries, like Welbeck for example, who has been out since April last year," said Wenger.
"He’s now two or three weeks away and I’m confident that I won’t find a better player than Welbeck on the market today. If you give me the choice, I would prefer to have all my injured players back and go in to the end of the season with everybody available."
