Arsenal
Premier League • England
Arsenal told they made terrible transfer error as ‘formidable’ star leaves director expressing regret
Arsenal have been told why they should have kept French midfielder Matteo Guendouzi, with a director from another club revealing his regret at failing to sign the player.
Arsenal captured Guendouzi from FC Lorient in summer 2018. The central midfielder cost Arsenal £7.2million, as per transfermarkt.
Guendouzi immediately made a big impression at the Emirates and played 48 times during his first season in England. He remained an important player the following season and made 34 appearances across all competitions.
However, Mikel Arteta soon had some trouble in dealing with Guendouzi. In June 2020, towards the end of his second season at Arsenal, the 23-year-old was involved in a spat with then Brighton forward Neal Maupay.
Guendouzi appeared to grab Maupay by the throat. He also taunted the Brighton players by speaking about the big difference between the two squads’ earnings.
After investigating the issue the FA decided to take no further action and Guendouzi managed to escape punishment. However, his behaviour angered Arteta and the manager refused to let him play in an Arsenal shirt ever again.
As a result, Guendouzi spent the 2020-21 season on loan at Hertha Berlin in the German Bundesliga. He spent the following campaign with Marseille on loan, where he played alongside William Saliba and Sead Kolasinac.
Saliba has since gone back to north London and is now an important part of Arteta’s plans. Guendouzi and Kolasinac are with Marseille permanently, though.
Guendouzi was signed by the Ligue 1 outfit for around £9m in the summer. This saw Arsenal make a £2.7m profit on him.
Left-back Kolasinac, meanwhile, joined Marseille on a free transfer in January, penning an 18-month contract there.
Matteo Guendouzi looking much better at Marseille
Guendouzi is maturing back in his native France and has gone from strength to strength at the Stade Velodrome.
Juninho, who was Lyon’s sporting director between May 2019 and January 2022, has since revealed Lyon were given the chance to sign Guendouzi before his switch to Marseille.
Juninho passed up on the opportunity and now regrets this decision, while he has also told Arsenal the attributes they are missing out on now Guendouzi is at Marseille.
“Honestly, Guendouzi is better than I thought,” Juninho told French outlet RMC Sport (via Sport Witness).
“When I was director of football at OL, I had discussions about him with Edu when he was at Arsenal. I had a few doubts, but today, I would say he’s a midfielder… not complete, because he isn’t always going to score goals, but he does formidable work as a box to box.
“He loses the ball rarely. He works hard without the ball, leads by example. He’s a very important player. He didn’t play at the weekend and the team lost.”
Juninho’s comments serve as high praise for Guendouzi. At Arsenal his talent was obvious, but Gunners coaches weren’t sure if he had the mentality to succeed.
Now, though, he is becoming a real leader at Lyon and is one of the first names on the team sheet. The six-cap France international has featured in all but one of Marseille’s matches so far this term. And he was only absent for that game because of a knock.
It is an intriguing time for these comments on Guendouzi to come about. Arsenal are looking for a midfielder in a similar kind of mould to him.
They could have saved themselves some money by keeping Guendouzi in their squad and being patient with him.
However, Arsenal have handed Arteta plenty of power as first-team manager. And ultimately the Spaniard did not think Guendouzi had the right mindset to be a part of his squad.