Matteo Guendouzi is reportedly set to leave Arsenal for Marseille, with the French club agreeing to a deal worth between €12m (£10.3m) and €15m (£12.8m).
According to Marseille-based outlet La Provence, a financial agreement has been reached between the two clubs. L’Equipe reported earlier this week that Guendouzi had agreed to personal terms to join Ligue 1 club.
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Guendouzi was listed by football.london as one of the players who was likely to leave Arsenal this summer.
The France U-21 captain spent last season on loan with Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin. The 22-year-old midfielder has not featured for Gunners since June 2020.
Arsenal signed Guendouzi in the summer of 2018 for a reported £8m according to Sky Sports News.
Last year, the CIES Football Observatory valued the youngster at €53m (£45.5m), a higher fee than the likes of Paul Pogba and Marco Veratti at the time.
Embed from Getty ImagesAs well as Guendouzi, Granit Xhaka is likely to leave Arsenal in the coming weeks according to reports.
Gazzetta dello Sport claim that AS Roma are keen to make the Swiss midfielder their first signing of the summer. As per the report, an £11m bid has been rejected from the Gunners for the 28-year-old.
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A lot of Arsenal supporters would agree that moving on Guendouzi is the correct thing for all parties involved. The 22-year-old midfielder has no future with the club and is not in Mikel Arteta’s good books despite an impressive year with Hertha.
However, there will be problems with supporters if the reported selling price of Guendouzi is to be believed.
It is understandable why Marseille would offer such a low fee for Guendouzi.
Ligue 1 has been hit harder than most leagues in Europe by the pandemic, as well as a collapsed TV deal that once threatened to put clubs in the division out of business for good.
Yet selling a player of Guendouzi’s talent and potential for a fee as low as £10.3m is an awful financial decision from Arsenal. Particularly given how much the French midfielder was valued at not so long ago.
Although Arsenal stands to make some profit on the former FC Lorient star, Marseille could find themselves with a player who could one day be valued way above the £45.5m CIES once calculated Guendouzi to be.