Former Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi has opened up on his relationship with current Gunners boss Mikel Arteta after he officially left the club in the summer transfer window.
On June 20, 2020 following a post-match altercation with Brighton player Neal Maupay, Guendouzi was excluded from Arsenal training and left out of the club's match-day squads due to a history of issues with his "attitude and general conduct." His relationship with Arteta never really recovered and he was loaned out to Hertha Berlin later that year.
Guendouzi moved to Marseille on loan the following summer before signing for the Ligue 1 outfit permanently on July 1, 2022, after it was confirmed that they had activated the option-to-buy clause in his contract.
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Much has been made of the failed relationship between the 23-year-old and Arteta since his Gunners exile. Now, the Frenchman has officially spoken out about how the two got on. In an interview with beIN Sports, as relayed by Goal France, at the weekend, he touched upon his Gunners exit, and clarified the situation surrounding the Maupay incident in the process.
He said: "Journalists used this excuse to say that we had a bad relationship and that's why I stopped playing and left Arsenal. Not at all. It’s a gesture like many on the pitch. There's a lot of tension sometimes, a lot of problems on the pitch. In any case, it has nothing to do with all that."
As for how he got on with Arteta, Guendouzi admitted: "It's true that I didn't have the best relationship with him. Beyond that, I always tried to work, always gave the maximum of myself in training and in matches. I still play a few matches with him, I still did great performances.
"He preferred other players and I respect that decision. That's why, afterwards, I also decided to leave because I was still young, I needed playing time to continue to progress. The most important when you're young is to play."
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