Aston Villa are hot on a transfer for Marseille ace Matteo Guendouzi as they try to improve their midfield. The France star wants to play under Unai Emery in the Premier League, too.
That is according to Birmingham Live, which reports Guendouzi is now keen to reunite with Emery in England. The pair worked together at Arsenal during the Spaniard’s 18 months at Emirates Stadium. The midfielder only fell firmly out of favour after Mikel Arteta took over.
Now, Emery has cast his eyes to the Stade Velodrome as he bids to bolster his engine room at Villa Park. The Villans will also back the Spaniard to improve his core in the January sales among other positions. But the claret-and-blue club are yet to make Les Phoceens an offer.
Reports by the Evening Standard claimed that Aston Villa have made Marseille an offer for Guendouzi’s transfer. RMC Sport journalist Fabrice Hawkins had also suggested the Villans would kick off negotiations at €30m (£26.5m). They would even stretch to €40m (£35.5m).
Meanwhile, Foot Mercato claimed that Emery has even spoken to Guendouzi over a move to Aston Villa. But 90min suggests Les Phoceens value the seven-cap international at €50m (£44.5m). They only paid Arsenal £9m to sign the 23-year-old last July after his initial loan.
Guendouzi is now keen to join Aston Villa in a transfer from Marseille for Emery
Marseille held an option to buy Guendouzi in the terms of their season-long loan deal for the 2021/22 campaign. But the Mirror reports the Gunners also inserted a 15% sell-on fee in the midfielder’s permanent move. So, Emery’s interest could now net Arsenal further millions.
It was under Emery that the Gunners signed Guendouzi from FC Lorient for £8m after just 30 first-team appearances. The Poissy-born technician had also only made eight top-flight outings for Les Merlus. Yet he went on to play 66 of his 82 games for Arsenal under Emery.
Now, Guendouzi is keen to reunite with Emery in the Premier League as Aston Villa target his transfer from Marseille. He has also come on significantly since the Gunners sacked the Spaniard in November 2019. Particularly with Les Phoceens, he has reached a new level.
“Honestly, Guendouzi is better than I thought because when I was director of football at [Lyon], I had discussions about him with [Gunners sporting director] Edu when he was at Arsenal,” Juninho told RMC Sport in October of last year.
“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 [operator].
“He loses the ball rarely, he works hard without the ball [and] leads by example. He’s a very important player. He didn’t play at the weekend [vs AC Ajaccio] and the team lost.”
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