Arsenal journalist Charles Watts has been speaking about the future of Matteo Guendouzi at the club, or lack thereof.
The French midfielder, valued at £18m on Transfermarkt, has been ostracised from the club this season after a disagreement with Gunners boss Mikel Arteta saw him sent out on loan to German side Hertha Berlin.
His exile could become permanent at some point this summer, with a report from Football Insider claiming that he has played his last game for Arsenal and that they are preparing to offload him.
But speaking on his show about the midfielder’s situation, Watts doesn’t think that his future is as cut and dry as that, as he claimed that Arsenal could very well manipulate his current contract in their favour:
“Arsenal are keen to get something sorted with Guendouzi. He has got a year left in his contract, but one boost Arsenal do have is that they do have an option to extend his contract by a further year, and that certainly gives them a lot more room to manoeuvre in the transfer market.
“It doesn’t quite give them the same amount of pressure of only having one year left on his deal, because technically, he’s got two years left on his deal. If Arsenal decide to take up that option, they can and then he’s got two years left on his deal.
“It gives them a lot more power in the transfer market when it comes to negotiations as well because if clubs are coming in with only one year left on his contract, obviously that valuation is going to be a lot lower. It doesn’t have to be that low now because Arsenal can say, ‘Look, he’s got two years left, we’re taking this option up, and so you’ve got to give us a little bit more money’, so Arsenal are in a good position with that.”
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TIF Thoughts on Charles Watts’ comments about Matteo Guendouzi…
Watts is right about the flexibility that this sort of move offers Arsenal, and at the same time it does mean that they don’t have to make a decision straight away if they don’t want to.
For instance, they could decide to send him out on loan again and hope that his value increases enough so that they can sell him on next summer when he would have one year left.
And who knows, in that time there might be a new manager in charge at the club that could look upon Guendouzi more favourably. At the end of the day, having plenty of options isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
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