Matteo Guendouzi and Mikel Arteta is hardly a match made in heaven. The actions and consequences of the past three years are enough evidence of this as the French midfielder saw his Arsenal career ended prematurely by the Gunners manager.
Arsenal sold Guendouzi to Marseille after agreeing on a loan with a buy clause inserted into the deal valued at less than £10 million. Guendouzi featured for Arteta during the opening months of his tenure but a combination of incidents with his coach eventually led to his exile.
His final game for the red and white came away to Brighton in which an altercation with Neal Maupay left the club wanting an apology for his actions that seemingly never arrived. football.london understands Guendouzi was given many opportunities to say sorry but, in combination with an incident during a training camp, the midfielder eventually left.
READ MORE: Matteo Guendouzi failed with a last-ditch attempt to stop William Saliba returning to Arsenal
At Marseille, he was joined by William Saliba. Saliba spent the year on loan and impressed but his future at Arsenal has remained uncertain for some time.
Guendouzi tried with a seemingly last-ditch attempt to keep his now-former teammate at OM. He claimed that he hoped he stayed with him at Marseille.
“I hope William stays here. He's having a great season; he deserves everything that has happened to him. He's a great guy outside, he's had a lot of great games," Guendouzi said.
However, despite his words, Saliba soon conducted an interview where he said that he would effectively be returning to Arsenal. Something which clearly irked Guendouzi.
"I belong to Arsenal. I still have two years left. I will be back with Arsenal. I have played zero matches, and I still want to show them my true face and have the chance to play for these fans and this great club,” he said speaking with Julien Maynard on the French television station.
Now we know that Guendouzi has heard William Saliba’s comments he has come back for a second last-ditch try. Saying that he is even confident that they’ll play together next season once he’s spoken to him.
“William now has Marseille in his heart and I am sure that he will come back to Marseille next season. So, I am going to try to push again for him to stay with us,” he said.
It is unlikely he will be successful with Arsenal having the control. However, this does bring up a theory that could impact Arsenal in the long term and with potential transfer targets.
Arteta has moved on a significant number of players and it is well-known the issues he has had with certain individuals. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was also removed from the playing squad after what were described as multiple disciplinary breaches.
Mesut Ozil was not registered by the club in his final year of his contract. This prompted a satirical tweet after the German international had departed using the tagline, “trust the process.”
Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Sead Kolasinac to name a few more weren’t even documented as having issues with Arteta but swiftly moved on for no transfer fee. Highlighting how desperate the club were to get them off the books.
Could these prior issues affect the perception of Arsenal under Arteta for better or for worse? In some cases, as shown by Guendouzi, even an active attempt to sway others away from the club.
The outcome of the Saliba saga, which should come to a head this month, will surely be of huge benefit to determining the answer. Arteta will hope the difficult decisions he has made will propel the club back to where it needs to be.
