Transfer of the Season: Matteo Guendouzi proves Arsenal wrong
Robin Bairner
- Updated: 23 May 2023 08:46 CDT
- 4 min read
Marseille’s loan move for Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi has been voted as Ligue 1’s Best Transfer of the 2021/22 season.
Guendouzi departed the Emirates Stadium last summer following a fallout with manager Mikel Arteta towards the end of the 2019/20 campaign, in which he was involved in a high-profile spay with Neal Maupay following a loss to Brighton.
Having been frozen out of the first-team picture, he was loaned to Hertha for the 2020/21 season then subsequently to Marseille.
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At Stade Velodrome, Guendouzi has settled impressively. In a team that was regularly rotated last term, he was a central figure for head coach Jorge Sampaoli and turned out 55 times in all competitions, scoring five goals and creating 14 more.
Indeed, so impressive were his performances, he comprehensively won the vote on best recruit of the season in Ligue 1, claiming 44.5% of the vote.
He finished ahead Rennes midfielder Lovro Majer, who has been touted to follow in the footsteps of Luka Modric to become Croatia’s next great central midfielder, and PSG right-back Achraf Hakimi. Nice striker Andy Delort finished fourth in the vote with 9% of the vote.
Lequel de ces 4 joueurs est la meilleure recrue de la saison d'après vous ? 👀
✓ @MatteoGuendouzi (@OM_Officiel)
✓ Achraf Hakimi (@PSG_inside)
✓ @AndyDelort9 (@ogcnice)
✓ Lovro Majer (@staderennais)
Vous avez 48h pour voter 👇— Ligue 1 Uber Eats (@Ligue1UberEats) June 10, 2022
What next for Guendouzi?
Guendouzi is lost to Arsenal and will sign for OM on a permanent basis during the 2022 summer transfer window, with the 23-year-old expected to reach a price of around €11 million.
READ MORE: Incredible Guendouzi story shows the attitude that saw Arteta bin him
FootballTransfers presently pegs the valuation of the player, who made his France international debut over the course of the last season, at €20m.
Nevertheless, the Gunners stand to make a profit on Guendouzi, having signed him in 2018 from Lorient for a fee of €8m.
Guendouzi wants Saliba back at Marseille
Guendouzi revealed on Sunday that he is pushing for fellow Arsenal star William Saliba, who was also at Marseille on loan last season, to join him for another campaign at Stade Velodrome.
“William now has Marseille in his heart,” he told Telefoot. “I’m sure that he’ll come back to Marseille next season. So I’m going to try to push him to stay with us.”
Saliba, however, is likely to get his chance at Arsenal under Arteta.
