Matteo Guendouzi insists his transfer to Marseille is the "best choice" he's made in years.
The French midfielder has finally left Arsenal as he made his loan move to the Stade Velodrome permanent for a reported £9million fee.
Guendouzi has been spending the campaign on loan at Marseille as club president Pablo Longoria confirmed on an RMC Sport show that the switch would be made permanent in the summer after the player had met clauses in his loan deal.
Guendouzi is set to sign a three-year contract with the Ligue 1 outfit that will keep him in the south of France until June.
The 22-year-old's spell with Arsenal was seemingly only going to end one way after a bitter fallout with the club and Mikel Arteta.
Will Matteo Guendouzi be a success at Marseille? Comment below
And he couldn't help but take a parting shot at his former club, labelling his move to Marseille the best choice he's made in years.
"It was a carefully considered choice. There were very good discussions with the president, with the coach and people in my family. We really made the best decision altogether. For me, it's the best choice I've made in many years," he told RMC.
"President Longoria and coach Sampaoli are the people who introduced me to the project and made me want to come. We talked about Marseille's project, what I could bring to the team, how I was going to grow.
"I found myself in this speech, I knew that when I came here, I was going to cross levels and continue to grow, whether it was humanly or football-wise."
The writing was on the wall for Guendouzi at Arsenal after several incidents got him into bother with Arteta.
Guendouzi reportedly had a mid-session altercation with one of his teammates during a warm-weather training camp in Dubai in February 2020, before sporting director Edu also had to tell off the Frenchman for inappropriate behaviour at an external event during their trip to the UAE.
Guendouzi then grabbed Neal Maupay by the throat in a feisty encounter between Arsenal and Brighton in June 2020 as the youngster reportedly spent the game taunting the Seagulls squad about their lower wages.
"He was saying the Brighton players were s*** and that he and his teammates earn so much more than they ever will," said a Daily Mail source.
"He's done it in other games as well. Arsenal are a decent club and hate that sort of behaviour."
This seemed to be the tipping point for Arteta as Guendouzi would never play another game for Arsenal from that point on.
