Karate kid Guendouzi reveals his big hair ambition and love for Craig David

Not since Emmanuel Petit and Freddie Ljungberg have Arsenal had such a distinctive head of hair running around in midfield. Now Matteo Guendouzi has revealed that he wants to keep his locks curled, bouncy and lustrous into old age.

Before we go any further, yes…this article is mostly going to be about the 20-year-old’s barnet.

Guendo arrived as something of an unknown quantity when he signed from Lorient last summer but he immediately caught Unai Emery’s imagination playing the full 90 minutes of our first game of the season against Manchester City.

He went on to play another 32 times in the league and notched a further 14 appearances in other competitions – only Alex Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Lucas Torreira and Alex Iwobi made more in total.

While Lucas Torreira injected bite to midfield, Guendo brought the gobbiness. It’s rare that a game passed this campaign without him sledging opponents.

He obviously backs himself in a physical battle because you can’t hide when you’re carrying a two-foot wide mop. We point readers to the example of Marouane Fellaini – well known for his own hyperbolic mane – giving Guendouzi’s curls a short, sharp tug at Old Trafford.

So what’s the deal with the hair? In an interview with Soccer Bible, he revealed all. “I’ve always had this haircut, since I was young,” he said.

“I’ve kept it and it helped me because people recognised me easily. They say, look, it’s that young guy from PSG, from Lorient, from Arsenal, wherever.

“I love my hair and I’ll keep it as it is until the end of my life. Unless I go bald! I hope I don’t. I want to keep it until I’m 100.”

Frankly, we think that’s unlikely, but you can’t fault the ambition.

And who does he trust to cut his hair? “My mum takes care of it when she comes to London,” he revealed.

“She brings good hair care products. She knows how to do it. She’s been doing it since I was young, she’s the expert. So there’s no problem.”

Other interesting things we’ve learned about Matteo? He’s a big fan of Craig David (“He helped me discover his musical world and I learnt a lot”), he thinks London’s Oxford Street is a “wonderful street” (man must be a sadist, jeez) and he did loads of karate as a kid. If he gets a start in Baku, we’d be quite happy seeing him crane kick Eden Hazard all the way into the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Anyway, have a gander of Soccer Bible’s interview with Matteo, it also includes some pics of the lad doing some excellent ‘Blue Steel’ in adidas gear.