Mikel Arteta might have inadvertently clarified something interesting about Matteo Guendouzi at Arsenal.
The 23-year-old midfielder has been impressing back in Ligue 1 since Arsenal loaned him to Marseille on a season-long agreement this past summer.
It was widely reported at the time – including by The Athletic – that the Gunners had included an obligation to buy clause, meaning that the French club have to sign him outright next summer.
But Arteta might have just rubbished that, albeit accidentally.
That’s because the Arsenal boss didn’t seem to rule out the prospect of Guendouzi returning to North London and saving his career at the Emirates Stadium.
He told the club’s official website, when asked if there’s any chance of him coming back: “I think he’s having a really good spell at Marseille, and it’s part of the plan we made with him. He’s continued with his development and we’ll make a decision at the end of the year.”
On whether the former Lorient gem has played his last game for Arsenal, the Spaniard added: “I think you cannot say that about a player that is owned by the club.”
With that in mind, it is reasonable to believe that the initial reports about the details of Guendouzi’s agreement are very wide of the mark.
Twist
If it transpires that Arsenal do still control Guendouzi’s future, it’ll shock quite a lot of fans.
That’s because the player has looked dead and buried at the Emirates for a while now and the reports that Marseille were obligated to sign him only enhanced the feeling that he’d never play for the club again.
Arteta exiled him toward the end of the 2019-20 campaign following an on-the-field spat with Neal Maupay which, incidentally, was his most recent game for the club.
That incident, combined with back-to-back loans, heavily suggested that the 39-year-old coach had zero intention of ever using him again.
But based on these quotes, the Guendouzi story at Arsenal is far from over and it’ll be fascinating to see if he really could wind up succeeding.
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