According to Telefoot’s Yassin Nfaoui, Aston Villa and Newcastle United are both interested in securing the services of Olympique Marseille’s Matteo Guendouzi as the two English clubs look to bolster their respective midfield with European football to play next season. Both the clubs will battle it out for the Frenchman’s signature as his performances in Ligue 1 last season has earned plaudits from plenty of other European suitors too who are said to be interested. As of now, Aston Villa and Newcastle United are both leading the race for the player.
It’ll be an interesting move for Guendouzi if any move materializes to either of the two English clubs as it will mark his second coming to the Premier League having already played in England back in 2018 for Arsenal under Unai Emery, who is now the man in-charge at Aston Villa. The Villains’ interest is mainly driven by the Spaniard coach who wants to reunite with the Frenchman who he signed when he was just 19 years old during his stint at the Emirates.
Newcastle United, on the other hand, are particularly interested in signing the player as Eddie Howe is looking to revamp his midfield and sign a progressive midfielder who will help the Magpies penetrate the opposition defence with ease something which Guendouzi did a lot last season. According to Fbref, the 24-year-old averaged 7.34 progressive passes per 90 which is in the top 3% of all midfielders playing in Europe. He also had a pass completion rate of 86.4% per 90 (top 2%) and 54.30 passes attempted per 90 (top 10%) further highlighting his midfield dominance and talent.
Aston Villa bought Boubacar Kamara last summer from Olympique Marseille in a deal worth around 35 million euros and partnering up a former teammate will be a great prospect for Guendouzi, particularly after the duo’s stellar partnership in Ligue 1 in the 21/22 season. Reuniting the two could be the perfect midfield for Emery alongside Douglas Luiz as the Villains could potentially have one of the most exciting midfields next season. Kamara anchoring the midfield with Luiz and Guendouzi playing as box-to-box midfielders could be exactly what Emery needs in his 4-3-3 system to create a well-balanced midfield.
Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United also play in a 4-3-3 system though their existing midfield have built a good chemistry amongst themselves with the likes of Bruno Guimares, Joe Willock and Joelinton all having a stellar campaign last season. It will be a difficult task for Howe to give Guendouzi the desired first-team minutes with the amount of talent already available at his disposal.
It will all boil down to which project Guendouzi prefers at the end of the day. Does he want to continue playing Champions League football with the Magpies with lesser first-team minutes or be an out-and-out starter with the Villains under Emery but playing in the Conference League? An interesting transfer situation which could advance in the upcoming days with a reasonable fee of 40 million euros which could tempt Marseille into selling their star midfielder.
