It appears that when Unai Emery took over at Aston Villa, he did so with very specific ideas in mind, and conveyed those to the men above him.
His first post of call was to address the left-back role, and Álex Moreno was signed to provide competition to Lucas Digne.
Then came a widely reported interest in Mattéo Guendouzi, with whom he had already worked at Arsenal, which Le10 Sport mention on Wednesday.
Previous reports claimed the Aston Villa manager had spoken directly with the Marseille midfielder to put forward his project, but the player never made the move, and an offer was never made to the Ligue 1 side.
There has been talk of a promise to let Guendouzi go in the summer from the French club, but with performances dipping a bit of late, there is a feeling that they might not get as much money as first thought.
The hope will have been to bring in around €40m from the France international’s sale, but that figure is now more of a dream than anything else, as explained by journalist Jonatan MacHardy on the After Marseille podcast, relayed by Le10 Sport.
He said: “Guendouzi had clearly been identified like the golden goose. His value has gone down. I wonder if Marseille are now thinking of giving him a new contract and keeping him an extra year, because I doubt the sums that Marseille were banking on, around €40m, will arrive this summer. However, the trend is still heading towards an exit.”
That means Aston Villa, if they do come forward, could end up getting the midfielder for less, which would undoubtedly please Emery.
Meanwhile, Mourad Areas, a journalist for So Foot, didn’t hold back: “It’s time for the parties to go their separate ways. I don’t know if he has a future at Marseille.”
