Stephy Mavididi has revealed that he has no idea what current Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta would have thought about him, had he still been at the club.
The 22-year-old had been on the Gunners’ books since a child but left to join Juventus in August of 2018 after little prospect of breaking into the senior side.
Unai Emery was Arsenal’s head coach at the time of Mavididi’s departure but even under Arsene Wenger, the young hitman was little more than a fringe player who had mixed loan spells with Charlton and Preston North End.
Mavididi came from the same Hale End academy as players like Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe who are presently enhancing their reputations in Arteta’s senior side – and in a big way, too.
The Spaniard, who learned his trade under Pep Guardiola and earlier Wenger, clearly has a fondness and trust for youth players, but Mavididi – who is now impressing at Montpellier – has revealed that he does not know how he’d fare under Arteta.
He told The Express: “The boys that are there now deserve their chance because they are good players. Within that group, I was one of the good players, so looking at it from that perspective it’s kind of hard to tell whether he would have liked me.”
The English marksman has eight goals in 27 Ligue 1 appearances for the French side this season, having moved there last summer.
He will need to find the net a lot more regularly to convince Arsenal that they made a mistake in selling him but, at 22, he clearly remains a young player and seems determined to improve.
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