Much like Tanguy Ndombélé at Tottenham, Mattéo Guendouzi isn’t a happy bunny at Arsenal.
The midfielder had an altercation with compatriot Neal Maupay at the end of his side’s 2-1 loss against Brighton, and subsequently found himself left out of the match day squad to face Southampton a few days later.
Since then, a number of stories have been published about him, with a big one coming in Friday’s L’Equipe about a number of clubs being interested in him, including Manchester United.
A regular under Unai Emery, Guendouzi has found himself pushed to one side a bit by Mikel Arteta, which has led him to feature far less than he wants.
The whole article from L’Equipe made it sound like the young midfielder was being impatient, and instead of knuckling down and trying to fight his way back into the Spaniard’s plans, he had told his agents ‘he would prefer a more favourable environment’ to play in.
His main worry is missing next year’s Euros with France, and (perhaps almost magically) luckily for him, ‘suitors are numerous’.
Clubs such as Atlético Madrid and Inter were said to be at the front of the queue, but it’s the addition of Manchester United as having ‘expressed interest’ that intrigues us.
There’s no denying Guendouzi has been far bigger of a hit at Arsenal in his early days than first anticipated when he moved from Lorient, and if the accounts of what he told Maupay are correct, it all appears to have gone to his head.
Still only 21 years of age, the midfielder has often come across as a bit temperamental and reactionary, and this all appears to stem from him being dropped for the game against Southampton.
The fact that so many big clubs have suddenly appeared for his services in such a short amount of time reads, at least to us, as names being thrown around to try and drum up interest.
After all, the L’Equipe article did state the Gunners wouldn’t stand in his way if he wanted to leave, as long as they got €40m.
The newspaper aren’t the only ones to have been informed of all this interest, as TF1 were also told about it, with Julien Maynard reporting on social media that Guendouzi ‘could leave’ Arsenal this summer, and that he was already ‘in contact’ with various clubs, including Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Inter and Paris Saint-Germain.
https://twitter.com/JulienMaynard/status/1276260282290114560?s=20
The Ligue 1 champions aren’t mentioned in L’Equipe, which adds to the suspicion that names are just being used for the sake of drama and hype building more than anything else.
We don’t doubt there are clubs out there who could be interested in Guendouzi, but are we really supposed to believe that Manchester United, who already have enough issues of their own with midfielders who may or may not want to leave, would want to pay €40m for a player who might not even make their own starting XI?
After all, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s focus since coming in has mostly been about team unity and professionalism, with Bruno Fernandes’ recent arrival ticking all the boxes of what he is looking for in new recruits.
This latest outburst from Guendouzi, however, certainly does not.
