Mattéo Guendouzi

Mattéo Guendouzi
Guendouzi playing for Arsenal in 2018
Personal information
Full name Mattéo Guendouzi Olié
Date of birth (1999-04-14) 14 April 1999
Place of birth Poissy, France
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Arsenal
Number 29
Youth career
2005–2014 Paris Saint-Germain
2014–2016 Lorient
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2017 Lorient B 24 (0)
2016–2018 Lorient 26 (0)
2018– Arsenal 6 (0)
National team‡
2016–2017 France U18 7 (0)
2017– France U19 2 (1)
2017– France U20 3 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 7 October 2018 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:10, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

Mattéo Guendouzi Olié (born 14 April 1999) is a French professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Arsenal and the French under-20 team.

Career

Early career

Guendouzi started his career at the academy of Paris Saint-Germain. He left Paris to join Lorient's academy in 2014. After representing the Lorient B side he graduated to the first team in 2016.

FC Lorient

Guendouzi made his debut for Lorient on 15 October 2016 in the Ligue 1 match against Nantes in a 1–2 defeat. He played nine times in all competitions,[2] during his debut season of 2016–17 as Lorient were relegated to the second tier at the end of the season.[3][4]

In the 2017–18 season Guendouzi featured 21 times for Lorient as they missed out on promotion, finishing seventh in Ligue 2.[5]

Arsenal

On 11 July 2018, during the summer transfer window, it was announced that Guendouzi had joined Premier League team Arsenal for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of £7m plus bonuses.[6] Head coach Unai Emery said "We are delighted Matteo is joining us. He is a talented young player and a lot of clubs were interested in him. He has big potential and gained good first-team experience last season with Lorient. He wants to learn and improve and will be an important part of our first-team squad". Upon joining the club, Guendouzi was given the number 29 shirt, previously held by Granit Xhaka, who took the number 34 shirt, following the departure of Francis Coquelin, the previous season.[7]

2018—2019 season

On 28 July, he made his second debut in a friendly match against his former club Paris Saint Germain in Singapore. He started the game, impressed and helped his team to beat Paris Saint Germain 5–1.[8] On 12 August 2018, Guendouzi made his Premier League debut in Arsenal's opening fixture of the season against defending Champions Manchester City where he made 72 touches, the most for his team[9]. They lost the match 0–2.

On September 6, he was voted August Player of the Month by Arsenal fans for his good performances on his first games with Arsenal[10].

On October 4th, Guendouzi scored the first professional goal of his career, rounding off the scoring in Arsenal's 3-0 away win over Qarabağ FK, a low drive from just inside the penalty area, following an assist from Alexandre Lacazette.[11]

International career

Guendouzi was born in a suburb of Paris, France. He has represented France at levels up to France U20s.[5] With partial Moroccan heritage, Guendouzi was approached by Morocco manager Hervé Renard in 2017 to change allegiances to play for the Morocco national team. However after Guendouzi's father met Renard in March 2017, Guendouzi decided to remain and pledge allegiance to France.[12]

Career statistics

As of match played on 7 October 2018[13]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Lorient B 2015–16 Championnat de France Amateur 60—60
2016–17 170—170
2017–18 Championnat National 2 10—10
Total 24000000000240
Lorient 2016–17 Ligue 1 801000——90
2017–18 Ligue 2 1801020——210
Total 26020200000300
Arsenal 2018–19 Premier League 60001021—91
Total 600010210091
Career total 56020302100631

References

  1. ↑ "Matteo GUENDOUZI". www.lfp.fr.
  2. ↑ "Matteo Guendouzi in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. 9 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  3. ↑ "Troyes promoted to Ligue 1". beIN SPORTS Australia. 28 May 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  4. ↑ "French Football League - FC LORIENT". Ligue1.com.
  5. 1 2 "Arsenal in talks with France U20 midfielder Matteo Guendouzi". Sky Sports. 9 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  6. ↑ Wheatley, Chris (11 July 2018). "Who is Matteo Guendouzi? The French teenage wonderkid who has joined Arsenal". Goal. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  7. ↑ "Matteo Guendouzi joins the club". Arsenal F.C. 11 July 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  8. ↑ "Arsenal 5-1 PSG: Alexandre Lacazette leads second-half blitz after captain Mesut Ozil opener". Evening Standard. 28 July 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  9. ↑ "Arsenal 0-2 Man City: Unai Emery's opener is a reality check for Arsenal". BBC Sport. 2018-08-12. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
  10. ↑ https://www.arsenal.com/news/matteo-guendouzi-our-august-player-month
  11. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45684940
  12. ↑ "Morocco: Renard turns the page of Guendouzi". Orange. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  13. ↑ Mattéo Guendouzi at Soccerway. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
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