Matteo Guendouzi has been speaking to Onze Mondial about his time at Marseille, during a season-long loan move from Arsenal.
What’s the story?
Well, it sounds like Guendouzi is loving life away from Arsenal.
The 22-year-old said: “I like playing in a full stadium when at home. I like to feel the true love from the fans for this club. That’s what I found here. I haven’t been this happy since the start of my career”.
There you have it – Guendouzi is evidently a lot happier at Marseille than he ever was at Arsenal.
That speaks volumes, seeing as he has only been at the Stade Vélodrome since July.
As you’ll know, Guendouzi and Mikel Arteta fell out in the aftermath of a 2-1 defeat to Brighton in 2020.
As Football London covered, the Frenchman’s conduct angered Arsenal, and he refused to grab opportunities to redeem himself under Arteta.
Guendouzi spent the 2020/21 campaign on loan at Hertha Berlin, but he seems far more settled in his native France.
Matteo Guendouzi won’t return to Arsenal
In our view, Guendouzi has played his last game for the Gunners – we simply can’t see him returning to north London.
Jorge Sampaoli handed Guendouzi the captaincy in Marseille’s last game against LOSC Lille, which sadly ended in a 2-0 defeat.
Clearly, the Argentine trusts the midfield maestro quite a lot.
Crucially, Marseille have an option-to-buy clause (Sky Sports).
In that respect, if Guendouzi continues to impress, Marseille won’t even need to negotiate with Arsenal – they will simply pay the agreed fee, and the problematic playmaker will be theirs.
Only a refusal from the player himself would stop a deal, and it doesn’t sound like the France Under-21 international will do that judging by his comments.
As far as we’re concerned, Guendouzi won’t be coming back to Arsenal.
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