With it announced that Mattéo Guendouzi will officially become a permanent member of Olympique de Marseille at the end of the season, Arsenal are set to get a nice income from his sale.
Even if the fee hasn’t been revealed (rumours have it at around €11m), it’s likely to be a bit more than the £7.2m initially paid to Lorient by the Gunners, meaning Mikel Arteta, who fell out with the Frenchman, should get some money to spend from the sale of a player he no longer wants around.
Guendouzi leaving Arsenal and returning to France worked like a charm, as the fiery youngster immediately wriggled his way into the hearts of the Ligue 1 side’s fans with his grinta, as they call it, scoring three goals and assisting another eight in 28 league appearances this season along the way.
The player sat down with Marseille’s Twitch channel on Tuesday evening, where he talked about his move to the south of France from the Gunners, explaining how the whole thing came about.
Relayed by Le10 Sport, he said: “I got the call from the president and the manager, who simply told me they wanted me and explained the project that was underway at OM. From the first talks that we had, I knew it was the club I needed to go to. The fervour that’s here, the great project that’s just started.
“I trust this team, the staff and the people who works in this club because I know that I can continue to grow as a footballer, as a man, so it was a well thought out choice. A very good choice, like I said, one of the best choices for a very long time.”
Whether that’s a dig at Arsenal, seeing as things didn’t quite work out for him at the Emirates over the years, isn’t clear, but what is is the fact he’s happy at Marseille, where he sees himself continuing for the foreseeable future.
During his time with the Gunners, Guendouzi made 82 appearances, scoring one goal and assisting another five in all competitions.
