James McNicholas of The Athletic has been discussing the Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta’s latest comments regarding Matteo Guendouzi on a recent edition of the Arsecast.
The Arsenal head coach has indicated that the French midfielder will be given the “same opportunities” as everybody else despite being cast aside by the Spanish manager towards the back end of last season.
The last time the 21-year-old appeared for the Gunners was at Brighton back in June, with the midfielder missing the last eight games of the most recent Premier League season. Shortly after that appearance against Brighton, reports emerged suggesting that the club were looking to sell him after he seemed to taunt an opposition player regarding their wages.
However, McNicholas didn’t appear to buy the former Arsenal player’s seemingly very different stance on the French international when discussing his possible reintegration into the team during his pre-match press conference ahead of this weekend’s Community Shield.
Arteta stated: “I have been really clear that everybody starts from zero all the time in football. What you did two weeks ago or two years ago doesn’t really matter. It’s what you are able to contribute to the team now. Everybody is going to have the same opportunities.”
Here is what McNicholas had to say in response:
“I don’t fully buy his thing of ‘what you did two weeks ago didn’t matter’, it didn’t feel like that in June when we came back from [the break]. It is [a] pretty remarkable turnaround from Arteta, but maybe there is a bit of positioning.
“Maybe there is that thing of, ‘well, we’re not getting the offers we want because everybody knows we want to get rid of him.’ If we open the door to him making a comeback or even if we give him a bit of playing time, put him in the shop window, it might drum up some more interest. I’d love to believe that there is going to be this great big turnaround and Guendouzi’s learnt his lesson, but it felt so far gone that I’m a little bit sceptical about that possibility.”
Do you think Matteo Guendouzi still has a future at Arsenal?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
Given the hard stance that Arteta took with regards to Guendouzi, with The Athletic reporting that the manager even instructed the player to train alone, away from the rest of the first team, you can understand why McNicholas wasn’t totally convinced by what Pep Guardiola’s former assistant had to say. It remains to be seen whether or not the player can resurrect his Arsenal career, or if he’ll be sold at the earliest opportunity.