Former future Arsenal captain “wasting his talent”

“Guendouzi endures torrid night as Marseille exit the Champions League” was the article headline dropped into the She Wore WhatsApp group yesterday morning. And it made me chuckle.

Marseille were heading through to the Champions League qualifiers, leading Panathinkos 2-0 (and 2-1 on aggregate) following a brace from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Matteo Guendouzi started the game on the bench, as he has done for all 3 of Marseille’s game this season. He was bought on in the 68th minute to help shore up the midfield and see the game out.

Deep into second-half stoppage time, Guendouzi was then penalised for handling the ball inside the box, gifting Panathinaikos the chance to take the game to extra time. A chance which the Greek side took, scoring from the penalty spot in the 99th minute.

After extra time finished goaless, the match went to penalties.

Matteo stepped up to take Marseille’s first penalty. His shot was well-saved by goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli. The remaining players from both sides all converted their spot-kicks ensuring that Marseille crashed out 5-3 on pens in front of their home fans.

It is almost 5-years to the day since Matteo Guendouzi made his Arsenal debut. Most fans came away from the 2-0 defeat at home to Manchester City realising we had a bright young talent on our hands.

He would go on to become a regular for Unai Emery’s Arsenal, leading many (including myself) to say he could potentially become Arsenal captain in the future.

In the summer of 2019, he was arguably the best young midfielder in world football, and was being talked up alongside the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Jack Wilshere as the best teenage midfielders seen at Arsenal. Guendouzi was being linked to big money moves to Bayern Munich and PSG.

The only young midfielder in English football who looked close to Guendouzi was some fella at West Ham.

Declan Rice was just 3 months older than Guendouzi, and had also established himself as a Premier League first team regular over the previous 12 months.

Guendouzi and Rice shared a lot of similar attributes – both had a good mixture of physical and technical attributes, and the ability to drive forward with the ball.

During 2019, both Guendouzi and Rice would receive their first call=ups for their countries.

A tough second season at Arsenal was marred by childish behaviour and fallings out with different managers and coaching staff. Whilst he is was physically a man, he was clearly mentally immature.

There were reports of him mocking Emery’s accent and a falling out with Freddie Ljungberg during the Arsenal legends tenure as caretaker manager.

As football prepared for a return after Covid, Arteta took his squad to Dubai to prepare.

In Dubai, Guendouzi firstly got into a scrap with Sokratis. Arteta came down harder on Guendouzi than Sokratis which the young Frenchman took exception to. Things then boiled over and the pair got into a shouting match.

Despite pleas from the the likes of David Luiz for Guendouzi to act professional, Guendouzi reprimanded on second occasion during Arsenal’s training camp – for taking his shirt off at music event. This led to given him receiving a dressing down by technical director Edu.

When football finally back, Guendouzi became emboriled in a a post-match altercation with Brighton player Neal Maupay. This led to Guendouzi being excluded from Arsenal training and left out of the club’s match-day squads due to a history of issues with his “attitude and general conduct.”

Guendouzi would not play for Arsenal again, and in the summer of 2020, Arsenal looked to move him on. But other clubs had done their research on him and no top club seemed to be willing to take the risk. In the end he joined Hertha Berlin on loan.

He returned from Germany without enhancing his reputation on the pitch, and Arsenal looked once again to sell. And once again there were no buyers.

Whilst Guendouzi had missed out on France’s Euro 2020 (held in 2021) squad, Rice was becoming one of the first names on the England teamsheet. By the time Guendouzi made his debut for France at the end of 2021, Rice already had 27 caps to his name.

Another loan deal beckoned for Guendouzi and this time he returned to his native France for Marseille.

A good first season saw him make France’s World Cup 2022 squad and gain 6 caps for his country. It also led to to Marseille signing him permanently.

Maybe it is second season syndrome, but like at Arsenal, his performances dropped off after his first campaign with Marseille. This led him to be in and out of the team and starting 10 less games in Ligue 1.

Whilst Guendouzi was struggling for his place in the Marsielle team, Rice had been named captain of West Ham and led them to their first trophy in over 40 years. That secured him a big money move to Arsenal.

This season, Guendouzi has started all 3 Marseille games on the bench, and his coslty errors saw his team fail to qualify for the Champions League.

It is incredible to think that there is very little in age between Rice and Guendouzi.

In December 2019, both players were valued at £50m by Transfrmarkt. Since then, Rice’s star has continued to rise whilst Guendouzi’s has plummeted.

Transfrmarkt now rate Rice as the best player in the world born in 1999. Guendouzi is just 30th. They also rate Rice as the 6th best midfielder in world football (Jude Bellingham, Jamal Musiala, Pedri, Federico Valverde and Gavi are the top 5). Guendouzi is 41st.

Rice has gone on to make 43 appearances for his country, whilst Guendouzi has just 7 French caps.

Had Guendouzi developed how we would have expected back in December 2019, we may not have had to spend £105m on Declan Rice.

Now 24, and struggling for starts in the French league, Guendouzi could become one of the biggest waste of talents of the modern era.