With rumoured turmoil in North London amidst a fall out between Mikel Arteta and Matteo Guendouzi, multiple clubs have reportedly shown interest in taking the Frenchman off the Gunners’ hands. The Arsenal board immediately rejected any form of transfer request, but I wonder if this is the last we will hear of it.
Born 15 miles from the centre of Paris, Guendouzi is part of the Parisian street football revolution. At 21-years-old, he balled on similar streets to French national stars Paul Pogba, Ousmane Dembélé and French poster boy Kylian Mbappé. This shows. His strength and physicality at 6ft 1in is combined with deft touches and fast feet, giving him the ability to dominate games with a relative ease.
The Frenchman joined PSG at the age of 6, spending 9 years at the seven-time reigning champions of Ligue 1 before being released. Guendouzi was unfortunate as a high load of quality players in a similar position meant there wasn’t enough room for the French youth international.
However, Guendouzi’s sudden departure did not stifle his progress one bit. Clubs were lining up around the corner to take in the promising holding midfielder, and an agreement was swiftly made with longtime Ligue 1 strugglers F.C Lorient. A relocation 310 miles west turned out to be the right choice for Guendouzi and his family. Years away from the hustle and bustle of Paris and a starting place in Lorient B, the youngster settled in well and by his 17th birthday, he’d taken the number 4 shirt and was becoming a firm fixture in the Lorient first team side.
Often likened to PSG midfielder Adrien Rabiot due to his long, waving hair, Guendouzi is his own player. Able to sit in front of a back four and screen opponents, he also has the capability of playing in a double pivot. This versatile midfielder is perfect for the Premier League. After a shaky few days at Arsenal, will Matteo Guendozui remain or jump ship, with him and Mikel Arteta clearly not seeing eye to eye.
Guendouzi has been one of Arsenal’s best performers this season, especialy pre-Arteta. He has some of the best ball progression metrics in Europe.
Not only this but he’s shown massive commitment and desire every time he plays. Selling him would be absolutely disastrous. #afc
As the tweet above suggests, Matteo Guendouzi is at the top of the list in terms of ball progression in Europe, losing out only to Mateo Kovacic. Diminutive and with an arrogance even Zlatan Ibrahimovic applauds, what is the right move for Guendouzi?
Well it seems foolish to even attempt to switch sides. Guendouzi has worked his way up the pecking order extremely well at Arsenal and now has a featuring role in the side. This would be massively disrupted if he was to join another large club, such as Manchester United, where game time would most certainly be limited.
However, if the Frenchman does in fact believe that all bridges have already been burnt, it’s clear what he can offer other sides. And, at 21-years-old, he still has so much to learn and progress as a player. Who knows what will happen next
James Wills is Based in Cape Town and loves playing football from the young age, He has covered All the news sections in TasteOfFootball and have been the best editor, He wrote his first NHL story in the 2013 and covered his first playoff series, As a Journalist in TasteOfFootball Ron has over 8 years of Experience.