This is some Arsenal transfer news that supporters didn’t want to see.
The Gunners have some very exciting deals in the pipeline, not least the prospect of potentially signing Mykhailo Mudryk.
Pulling off an £88 million transfer in January would make Arsenal look excellent, totally serious about possibly winning the Premier League title.
But another January transfer could make them look quite bad.
Aston Villa are heavily linked to signing Matteo Guendouzi, who quit the North Londoners for Marseille in July of last year.
Arsenal pocketed around £9 million for the France international [The Athletic], but now he’s worth substantially more already.
According to 90 Min on Wednesday, the Ligue 1 outfit won’t be selling Guendouzi for less than £44 million.
That means in the space of around seven months, his value has increased by five times the amount – and it could make the Gunners look quite bad.
Then again, nobody at Arsenal will care if Guendouzi goes for £100 million.
The bottom line is that the 23-year-old and Mikel Arteta did not see eye to eye on a number of things, with his last senior appearance for the Emirates Stadium outfit coming shortly after football returned following the pandemic.
Guendouzi was loaned out twice since then – including one to Marseille – and the Spanish manager has clearly washed his hands of him.
Yes, he’s a good player, but Arsenal weren’t wrong to get rid.
How can they be when Arteta’s side are sitting top of the Premier League table?
The 40-year-old manager has zero tolerance for players who don’t fall into line and that philosophy is proving the right one.
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