Arsenal have attempted to include French midfielder Mattéo Guendouzi in a part exchange deal with Atletico Madrid to sign Ghana star Thomas Partey, but to no avail, according to Get French Football News.
The Gunners’ bid to Atletico Madrid for Partey was €25m plus a player – but SPORTSworlGhana.com understands that this player was the 21-year-old former FC Lorient man, who has been frozen out of proceedings by manager Mikel Arteta since the third game of the Premier League restart, after Guendouzi’s behaviour during the London club’s defeat to Brighton.
Arsenal have relatively few bankable assets in the squad this summer with which they can use from a position of relative strength as make-weights in possible swap deals – Guendouzi is front and centre.
The Frenchman’s current preference would be a move to Barcelona, where the player is understood to be confident that he can enter the squad rotation upon arrival. Contrary to other reporting, there are currently no formal negotiations ongoing between Arsenal & Barcelona about including the Frenchman in an eventual deal with Philippe Coutinho. However, Guendouzi’s representatives are in constant contact with the Catalan club about a potential deal.
It should be noted that whilst Philippe Nabe, the agent who took Guendouzi to Arsenal in 2018, remains involved in his client’s future, notorious French agent Moussa Sissoko has inserted himself in the attempt to move the Arsenal midfielder to the Catalan giants this summer.
