Goal’s Arsenal correspondent, Charles Watts, is expecting Matteo Guendouzi’s move to Marseille to be confirmed in the coming days.
At the start of this season, the Frenchman was loaned out to the Ligue 1 club, where they had the option to sign him for a fee of around £10m come the end of the campaign.
In an interview with RMC Sport (via the Daily Mail) back in March, Marseille president Pablo Longoria confirmed the midfielder would join Marseille permanently after agreeing on a deal to keep him there until 2025.
The 23-year-old is blossoming in his home country and is now a fully-fledged France international looking to be on the plane to Qatar in November, and Watts has revealed that his transfer should be made official soon.
Are Arsenal selling Matteo Guendouzi for too cheap?
Yes
No
Speaking on his YouTube channel, he said: “My understanding is his move to Marseille will be confirmed pretty imminently. He is away at the moment with France.
“I think once that stay comes to an end, then it won’t be too long until we hear confirmation that Guendouzi has joined Marseille on a permanent basis.
“In total, the whole thing with Marseille is going to pocket them about £10m plus Guendouzi’s wages off the wage bill.
“Is that enough money? You’d have to say no, just looking at how young he is, how he’s done at Marseille, the fact he’s a France international, it’s not a very good price for Guendouzi, there’s no getting around that – as is the way with Arsenal, who are notoriously dreadful when it comes to selling players.”
TIF Thoughts on Guendouzi leaving Arsenal…
Receiving such a small figure for a promising talent will be frustrating for the Gunners, but Guendouzi’s relationship with the club appeared to be broken.
He was signed by the north London club back in 2018 as a 19-year-old for around £8m and became a firm favourite under manager Unai Emery, making 33 Premier League appearances in his first season before things took a turn for the worse when he taunted Brighton & Hove Albion players about his wages at the end of a game back in June 2020.
That came after the player apparently had a bust-up with technical director Edu during a trip to Dubai and Arteta’s patience seemed to run out, with the £22.5m-rated dynamo not featuring for the club since and spending the last two years out on loan.
While it may be a small fee, one would assume that plenty of Gooners will be happy for Guendouzi to depart.