Arsenal’s Matteo Guendouzi has already made 70 appearances for the Gunners but his form has tailed off – could he be boosted by Mikel Arteta’s arrival at the Emirates Stadium?
Arsenal legend and Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas has given his thoughts on Matteo Guendouzi ahead of the Gunners’ Premier League meeting with Chelsea this weekend.
Guendouzi was a somewhat unknown addition when he arrived at Arsenal in the summer of 2018 from French club Lorient for a reported £7million plus bonuses (Goal.com) but he quickly worked his way into the Gunners first team.
The 20-year-old has already made 70 appearances for Arsenal, including 22 this season, and won the club’s Player of the Month award in September, but his form has gone off the boil in recent months, which has culminated in three of his side’s last five Premier League games being spent entirely on the bench.
Guendouzi – under contract at Arsenal until the summer of 2022 – has found himself under criticism by sections of the Gunners fanbase, though plenty of others remain optimistic that, with the right coaching and experience, the youngster will progress nicely.
Indeed, with the arrival of ex-midfielder Mikel Arteta at the Arsenal helm, not to mention Granit Xhaka’s Emirates future in doubt amid reports of a 2020 switch to Hertha Berlin, it could bode well for the Frenchman under the Spaniard.
Looking back at Arteta’s starting XI against Bournemouth, with Lucas Torreira and Xhaka in front of the back four, Nicholas wrote on Sky Sports News: “Granit Xhaka may be off, so he picked what he thought was the best balance in midfield.
“As much as I like what Matteo Guendouzi has, he has been poor and struggled at times, but he will come good and may come back into the fold at some point.”
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