Matteo Guendouzi has, in the space of a few short weeks, come to real prominence following his signing from Lorient in July and the fact he was thrust into action in our first Premier League game of the season against champions Man City.
Few had heard of the 19 year old before he arrived in North London, but he caught the eye in pre-season with his performances, and he’s not an easy figure to miss on the pitch because of his majestic mane which is reminiscent of a lion going into a hairdressers and asking for a 1970s footballer perm.
He’s also a young man full of optimism, saying he believes Arsenal can win the league this season, and revealing that former Gunner Jeremie Aliadiere gave him advice before he turned down overtures from Borussia Dortmund and his former club PSG.
“I did speak to Jeremie about Arsenal and he said it’s a place where I can progress and learn a great deal from the staff here,” he told the Evening Standard.
“He always spoke very positively and that made me feel very confident in the choice that I’d made.
“It’s the club of my heart. There have been a lot of French players here and Thierry Henry is a symbol in France after his long career here.
“I used to watch Arsenal games with my father and it has a special place in my heart.”
The midfielder – about whom you can read a very interesting profile here from Jack Pitt Brooke – has reserves of self-belief, as evidenced by his assertion that the Gunners could win the Premier League.
“I believe we can win it this season because of the players and staff we have,” he said.
“We truly believe and will do everything we can to win as many games as we can and to have a fantastic season. I truly believe we can do it.
“We can win titles because of the environment we have here and the quality of the players at our disposal.”
We’re not sure we agree with him, although obviously we’d be delighted if that were the case, but you can’t fault his attitude one bit.
I’m liking this guy more and more every day. Hope he can reach his potential here. COYG
I loved him at ‘first sight’.
A lot depends on the coaching but if he’s this good at 19 he should be a helluva player at 24. He’s got some ball bags for a youngster and I think he’s potential captaincy material.
Guendouzi has had one official game at top level and wasn’t known as a hyper talent at lower levels. Let’s put things into perspective and wish him and hope he develops into something big.
And in that first official game at the top level, if my sense of history is spot on, Xhaka was removed, while he remained in the game.
Things didn’t work out for Aliadiere at Arsenal, but he still has good things to say about the club – which is really nice to hear.
Don’t I just love this boy. His optimism is infectious.
Totally agree! They should have him on ArsenalFam TV
Those lot hate optimism. They were probably relieved that we lost our first game so they had something to be angry about.
I know, I was just joking because they are always so negative! I don’t see the point in supporting a team if all you are going to do is moan and whinge all the time.. Where’s the fun in that?!
To be honest, they all want to give time to the new manager to fix the team.
Shh, that doesn’t fit in with the narrative.
I hear they are officially AFTV now after Arsenal requested they stop using the word Arsenal
Seriously?!
He is right. Our current crops at our disposal is way better than spuxs..
Damn them with faint praise, why don’t you?
Being way better than a bunch of obnoxious cunts isn’t hard…
I’m thinking when this team clicks it will be beautiful to watch. I just hope Arsenal fans are patient.
well, I wouldn,t hold your breath for too long, if I was you jean
Not a fan, then?
Gotta love this kid! What excites me more than anything about him is his fearless attitude, growth mindset and his willingness to throw himself in the deep end. Those to me are greater indicators that he will go on to be a great player more than anything else. Just the fact after he had had a somewhat iffy start against man city he sought out emery to correct his mistakes and seemed calm, collected and not over-reactive to some of the issues he was having really stood out to me as positive signs for his future development. In short.. I’m… Read more »
seriously good debut…..well done.
doubt that he would make it into one of allerdyces teams……….way too talented to play fuck football!!!
Shank, do you mean Alladryce will coach again????
Fuck Allardyce
Should that be fuckball?
Future captain material right there! Haha. Great and mature comments from a teenager. He’s looking like a bargain.
Do we see him as a replacement/backup for Torreira or can Matteo slot in for Xhaka?
Did you really ask that question…. Xhaka who? I think the pair of noobs should start v the Chavs. Complementary non-overlapping skillsets.
Go on then Paddawan. Take it to the next level!
After Torreira was signed I thought, this guy is going to be an all time Gunner great. And now this kid pops on the scene.
As much as I loved Ze Prof, I feel a lot more confident that Matteo will flourish at Arsenal with Emery and staff.
The linked article is really useful. Very talented, very hard worker, eager to learn, but please let us not overhype him and then tear him down when he, inevitably, has periods where he fails to live up to exaggerated expectations (think the early, eager receptions for Bellerin, Mustafi, Xhaka, Kolasinac, etc.)
This is so refreshing to hear .. we have the quality in the team .. but need more self belief.
The objective should always be to win the league.Enough of that trying to be competitive and aim for top 4 bullcrap.
Like a breath of fresh air he slips into our club almost unknown and in a very short space of time has shown what a genuine guy he is, with so much ability and energy. I really hope he makes it here big time.
Spot on today about the transfers and the new manager Blogs. Been highlighting this for a while now. We have not been buying as well as advertised by some people. If anything, Mslintat/Sanheli were brought in to replace Wenger’s acumen in the market. The old gaffer had some bad judgements in market but mostly made brilliant signings even in second half of tenure when you consider Santi Carzola, Laurent Koscielny, Oliver Giroud, Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil even CXech off of Moanrinho, AND his acumen in market covered fundamental flaws he had with his philosophy of (generally) tactical non intervention The… Read more »
“Carzola” = instant down vote
Wow..
Oh my god please, please be quiet. Please
On Elneny, he is an AVERAGE player. Maybe it doesn’t fit some people’s convenient narrative but that’s what he is. His utility is he is happy to sit on the bench for large spells comes in and does and OK job. But he does not bring anything extra. We now have GUendouzi pushing Granit and Torreira in the two slots in deep midfield. Arguably AMN is our new utility man and brings a lot more potential capability to the flimsy Elneny. Ramsey can also be played in a midfield support role. Lets not forget Willock who although I feel is… Read more »
Guendouzi. I think he’s passed the litmus test for me. Some poor moments against City but he brings an aggression on the ball we need and he is always trying to push the ball forward. I think we will likely see Torreira (his instincts are key) and Granit deeper lying. Guendouzi looks to me like the perfect link player to switch between dropping deep to cover or moving higher up the pitch to push the attack (He won a number of intercepts higher up along with Ramsey, Mhki, Ozil and Laca as well…which made us dangerous…but we failed to capiatlise… Read more »
Here’s the Premier League manager in disguise again. Really arrogant
Good lad this one, and he has great potential.
Xhaka could learn a thing or two from this kid.
i can’t believe people just keep building hype after every new player’s debut… i like optimism but you always take it too far…
If Matteo is good enough to keep Xhaka out of the team, I’ll be happy.