The Basics
Age: 24
Club: Marseille
Nation: France
Position: Midfielder
Footed: Right
Under contract until: 2025
Guendouzi is best known to Premier League fans for his time at Arsenal, but the midfielder began his career at PSG, where he was in the academy from the age of six before leaving for Lorient in 2014.
Villa boss Unai Emery brought Guendouzi to Arsenal in 2018 for £7million, and the then-19-year-old instantly became part of the first team, starting their opening day fixture versus Manchester City.
When Emery was sacked by Arsenal, Guendouzi posted a heartfelt message on his Instagram…
While Emery rated Guendouzi highly, his successor Mikel Arteta wasn’t so keen. By the end of the 2019/20 season, he’d been exiled from training amid reports of Arteta taking issue with his attitude.
Loan moves to Hertha Berlin and Marseille swiftly followed, with the latter eventually purchasing Guendouzi for a reported £9million last summer.
Since moving back to France, Guendouzi has got his career on track over an impressive two seasons and has even captained Marseille on occasion.
Guendouzi has 257 club appearances in his professional career at just 24 years old, as well as six caps for France.
The Links
Villa were heavily linked with a move for Guendouzi in January 2023, but this ultimately didn’t come to fruition. According to Mathieu Gregoire of L’Equipe, he did not want to “exit through the back door” and preferred to leave in the summer.
As the end of the season approached, the reports of Villa’s interest ramped up again, and a deal to reunite Guendouzi with Emery appears likely.
Foot Mercato have claimed Villa remain “on pole” to sign the Frenchman. They added Marseille are seeking €25million (£21.67million).
Fabrizio Romano reported Guendouzi’s departure from Marseille is a “concrete possibility”, as Villa have been tracking him for a “long time”. However, he said there are other Premier League teams interested.
The Scouting Report
Strengths
The key strengths of Guendouzi’s game are ball retention and progression. He is the link between the defence and attack, moving the ball up the pitch using his excellent passing ability or by carrying it himself.
The midfielder ranks in the 84th percentile for progressive passes and the 82nd for progressive carries compared to his positional peers in the ‘Big 5’ European leagues over the last year, according to FBREF.
Guendouzi’s first touch is excellent. He takes the ball down easily out of the air and can control awkward passes without fuss, adjusting to trap it with different parts of his body as required.
He is calm on the ball and can delay for an extra half second to manipulate defenders before finding a pass. Guendouzi is press-resistant and doesn’t get flustered under pressure. He just consistently finds a way to get the ball to a teammate.
His passing is creative, too. If the ball is at an odd height he doesn’t panic and instead just finds a way to get it to a teammate. You will see him play headed passes or flick the ball with the outside of his foot. Guendouzi is comfortable using both feet.
It’s easy to take this for granted, but Guendouzi’s passes are almost always perfectly weighted. He plays the ball out in front of his target, so they don’t have to break stride. This effortless accuracy is evident on more difficult passes as well as straightforward ones.
There is an intelligence there. If a pass isn’t going to work, he doesn’t force it and looks elsewhere. This shows up in his pass accuracy, which ranks in the 82nd percentile over the last year.
Guendouzi does a great job of dropping into which ever space he needs to so he can offer to receive the ball. He pops up all over the pitch, falling back into the defensive line or playing in a more advanced position at different times.
The feel for the game that Guendouzi has translates over to the defensive side as well. His positioning is generally very good as he fills gaps, cuts passing lanes and screens the back four.
He senses danger, tracking deep runners from midfield as well as dropping back to cover defenders who are out of position.
Guendouzi is generally just a lovely, clever footballer, and one you want in your team.
Weaknesses
While there are positive defensive aspects to his game, Guendouzi is quite a passive defender. He doesn’t arrive to the ball in much of a hurry and fails to make tackles more often than you’d like.
There are some instances of him hustling to close down, but the issue is more that he takes bad angles to the ball and can let opponents escape. He ranks in just the 18th percentile for tackles.
Guendouzi isn’t a true “end-product” player. He does have one season with 10 goal contributions, scoring four goals and providing six assists in the 2021/22 season with Marseille, but that is an outlier compared to the rest of his career.
He isn’t the type of midfielder who will regularly break into the box and score like a Jacob Ramsey, Guendouzi is more likely to hang on the edge of the area instead.
Dribbling past players also isn’t a strength of Guendouzi’s game. He is only in the 29th percentile for successful take-ons.
Fit With Villa
Guendouzi should be capable of playing as a true ‘8’, like Douglas Luiz, or as a ‘Wide 8’, like John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey in Villa’s current system.
His presence would also open the opportunity to play with a midfield three, likely consisting of Guendouzi, Luiz and Boubacar Kamara. Guendouzi and Kamara’s relationship would aid the former’s adaptation to the team, as would his previous experience playing under Emery.
A fully developed Villa team under Emery will be able to control games better than they currently do, and Guendouzi will help in that regard, but also in the transitional moments Villa have thrived on this season.
Similar Players
According to FBREF, the closest statistical comparisons to Guendouzi are:
- Flavien Tait
- Franck Kessié
- Jordan Veretout
- İlkay Gündoğan
- Ivan Rakitić
- Gonzalo Melero
- Gavi
- Luka Modrić
- Jordan Henderson
- Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa
Kessié is the name which stands out as someone Villa could potentially be interested in, as they have been linked to the Barcelona midfielder previously.
The Villa Ramble 
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