Tottenham make their Champions League return this week but you’d be forgiven for thinking that their opening fixture is an all-Premier League clash given the number of familiar faces populating Marseille’s team.
Thirteen members of the French side’s European squad have some kind of connection to the English top flight, ranging from previous Premier League stars such as Alexis Sanchez and Dimitri Payet to loanees Nuno Tavares and Eric Bailly to more obscure names like one-time Spurs backup keeper Pau Lopez and ex-Newcastle defender Chancel Mbemba.
One of the most distinctive and memorable players of Marseille’s English connection is one-time Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi: distinctive for his trademark curly locks – the “best hairstyle in the Premier League” he told Four Four Two magazine in 2019 – and memorable for his committed displays in Arsenal’s engine room as much as his fiery fallout with Mikel Arteta which paved the way for a move to the south of France via Berlin.
When Guendouzi trots out onto the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium turf, it will mark his first appearance on English soil since Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat against Brighton in June 2020. On that occasion, Guendouzi grabbed ex-Brighton striker Neal Maupay by the throat after his compatriot had been involved in an incident in which Bernd Leno had been injured and the pair had to be separated after the final whistle.
That was by no means his first indiscretion and ultimately Arteta decided that Guendouzi, for all of his potential, was more hassle than he was worth. He was banished from Arsenal’s first-team training soon after before being loaned out to Hertha Berlin for the 2020-21 season and then Marseille in 2021-22. The Ligue 1 club triggered a clause to make the deal permanent for a reported £8.6m this summer.
Marseille’s Premier League contingent
- Eric Bailly – Man Utd (on loan)
- Matteo Guendouzi – Arsenal
- Papa Gueye* – Watford
- Issa Kabore* – Man City (on loan)
- Sead Kolasinac – Arsenal
- Pau Lopez* – Tottenham
- Chancel Mbemba – Newcastle
- Dimitri Payet – West Ham
- Alexis Sanchez – Arsenal
- Luis Suarez* – Watford
- Nuno Tavares – Arsenal (on loan)
- Cengiz Under – Leicester
- Jordan Veretout – Aston Villa
*Did not play a Premier League game
Former Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Petit described Guendouzi as having a “volcanic personality” and it is a trait that has flared up in Ligue 1. During April’s Classique between Marseille and PSG, for instance, Guendouzi sparked a melee after exaggerating contact from a foul by Neymar, earning the Brazilian a yellow card. But his improved consistency and growing influence at Marseille suggest that, at 23, Guendouzi is beginning to better control his emotions.
There is no question that he is an integral member of this Marseille side. Last season, when L’OM finished second behind PSG in the league, he played in all 38 of their matches (35 from the start) and amassed the second-highest number of minutes in the squad behind another Arsenal loanee, William Saliba. Guendouzi has been influential in Marseille’s strong start to this season too, starting in their first five matches before being given a breather in the sixth with the Spurs match in mind.
Guendouzi is not the kind of combative midfielder that his demonstrative character might have you expect him to be, though. Despite accumulating the ninth-highest number of minutes in Ligue 1 last season, Guendouzi ranked 49th among all players for yellow cards, 97th for tackle attempts and 106th for fouls committed, conceding as many as renowned workaholic Kylian Mbappe.
Instead, his enthusiasm, athleticism and accurate passing ability lends itself to more of a box-to-box role. According to FBREF, Guendouzi ranks in the 93rd percentile for progressive passes that move the ball at least 10 yards closer to an opponent’s goal and in the 99th percentile for progressive carries, defined as dribbles that move the ball at least five yards towards the opponent’s goal, of all players in Europe’s “Big Five” leagues. Only Lionel Messi played more progressive passes than Guendouzi in Ligue 1 last season.
More on Champions League
“Matteo has this winning gene,” enthused Bruno Labbadia, his former manager at Hertha Berlin. “He’s a very, very good footballer who has a good sense of space and is technically very strong.” Jorge Sampaoli, Igor Tudor’s predecessor at Marseille, went even further, by saying “he’s on his way to becoming one of the best midfielders in the world,” in April.
It is those attributes that have propelled Guendouzi into World Cup contention for France later this year. Including his debut in a World Cup qualifier against Finland last November, Guendouzi has featured in six of Les Bleus’ last seven matches, and scored on his first start against South Africa.
With Paul Pogba facing a race against time to make the finals in Qatar after undergoing knee surgery and N’Golo Kante also sidelined with a hamstring issue, it is entirely possible that Guendouzi could even start the reigning champions’ first game against Australia on 22 November.
But first, there is a Champions League night in north London to navigate and given Guendouzi’s nature it is one that he is no doubt relishing.
from Football | News and analysis from the Premier League and beyond | iNews https://ift.tt/cvSlLqI
Post a Comment