Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi has been likened to a teenager, with current boss Pal Dardai saying it is sometimes like he is in ‘puberty’.
Guendouzi is currently on loan with Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga, having joined them in the summer when it was made clear he was not part of Arsenal’s plans this season.
He’s had something of an up and down time at the club so far, featuring for them regularly but also being riddled with the same problems that held him back at Arsenal.
That was evident on the weekend in the 3-0 defeat to RB Leipzig, with Guendouzi caught out dribbling in his own box, losing out to Tyler Adams, who promptly set up Nordi Mukiele for the second goal.
Kicker look at the player today and explain that Guendouzi is ‘still searching for the right balance in his game.’
They say the Arsenal-owned Frenchman ‘tends to play dangerously’, electing to take ‘too much risk’ in areas where he can’t do anything but lose.
This has been a consistent issue so far, with him getting away with a similar incident against Stuttgart when he also lost the ball in his own box while dribbling but wasn’t punished.
The newspaper says while there are positives with Guendouzi, for example, he ‘charges the team’ with positive energy and ‘never hides’, there are also major negatives.
Their belief is that the youngster wants to ‘shoulder too much responsibility’ and often ‘chooses the difficult solution’ when he’s in possession of the ball.
It’s a big issue the Arsenal loanee needs to improve on and fast, with his current manager, Dardai, likening him to a teenager.
“He is a young player,” he said.
“It’s like he’s in puberty sometimes, rebellious. You have to know where the limit is. He has to learn, learn like a beast.”
