Arsenal may be risking their chance to sell out-of-favour midfielder Matteo Guendouzi to Olympique Marseille completely after taking a negotiating stance seen as ‘greedy’, as noted by Le10 Sport.
The French outlet report that with a transfer being discussed between the two sides, the Gunners are now pointing to the one-year contract extension option they hold in an effort to drive the ace’s price up.
Le10 Sport have found that the Gunners are now requesting more than €10m for the 22-year-old, who was cast aside by Mikel Arteta and never returned after his actions in defeat to Brighton last summer.
It’s added that the contract extension ploy being thrown into the mix has now delayed the ‘finalisation’ of the deal, leaving the pressure to stump up more all on the Marseille president’s shoulders.
Arsenal recruited Guendouzi in 2018 from then second-tier Lorient for a fee of €8m, per Goal, the talent quickly established himself as an important first-team player before everything went wrong last year.
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Central midfielder Guendouzi has started to showcase himself as a real talent for the Gunners and potential star for the French national team in the future, but his behaviour against Brighton was clearly deemed unacceptable and unforgivable by Mikel Arteta.
The ordeal saw Guendouzi loaned out to Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin this season, who slumped to a mediocre 14th-placed finish in the German top-flight this term.
Guendouzi has made 82 appearances during his time at Arsenal, it’s a real shame that the Gunners will have to offload a talent with such high potential, but there seems to be no way back for the Frenchman.
Arteta’s handling of Guendouzi was poor,probably because of the inexperience of the Manager.Arteta by casting away Guendouzi to the point that he was not ready to accept him back dropped his value.It is obvious that Guendouzi is a massive talent but Arsenal will have to let him go for almost nothing, it is important for the manager to learn that Player’s are a club’s assets and need to be handled carefully,this is not to say that we Condon misbehaviour,rather, let us not broadcast their flaws to the world.
so a player can be a complete arse, but that’s fine.
I;m sad to see him go, and friends Ozil, Kola and Stafi.
but if we are to get top 4/compete, professionalism and harmony within the group is the best way forward.
‘what if’s’ are for group think.
I’m behind a manager that understands this aspect