Arsenal: Matteo Guendouzi awareness will take him a long way

Matteo Guendouzi has spoked about how more is expected of him now he is established as a first-team player. The Arsenal midfielder’s self-awareness will take him a long way.

Matteo Guendouzi is quite the talent. Signed from the depths of French football, the crazy-haired midfielder shone from the moment he stepped onto the pitch in north London. No one really expected him to take the league by storm. And yet, that is precisely what he did.

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Early on, however, the expectations of his performances were subdued, to say the least. Guendouzi was meant to be nothing more than a young punt, a player brought into the squad on the whims of the scouting network that thought he had something.

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But as Guendouzi performed, the expectations changed. He proved that he was capable of impacting games in the present, rather than just being a roll of the dice for the future, and fans started to expect more. But, naturally, given that he was only 19 years of age when he first arrived at the club, he was unable to maintain the high level of performances that saw him sweep into the first team and take English football by storm.

His second season has featured a little more turbulence. There have been the highs of his early weeks — his North London Derby performance early in the season was sensational, to say the least — but there have also been more difficult outings in which his positional ill-discipline has been exploited by the opposition, so much so that Mikel Arteta has since turned to other central midfield options.

Guendouzi is no longer expected to produce the odd moments of brilliance, the shining one-off performances that excite fans about the future but mean little for the present. He has to be consistent and effective on a weekly basis. But Guendouzi, thankfully, is aware of much.

Speaking to Arsenal Player this week, Guendouzi said:

"“The fans definitely expect different things from me now. Then, inevitably, my playing well from the beginning last year was something new but I was still seen as a young player and new player that they did not know. Now, I have shown them what I am capable of. I have shown them that I can help the team a lot. So it is normal that they now expect a lot more from me, especially as I have played a lot of games last season. Then, since the beginning of the season, I have started in numerous games so it is normal that they expect a lot from me. In any case, I will always try to meet [those expectations] on the pitch.”"

He is grounded. He understands what is expected of him, and that those expectations change as his performance level rises. Many young players allow their success to go to their heads, their feet leave the floor, the work-rate depreciates. Not Guendouzi. He is self-awareness.

His talent is vital, his ability will take him a long way, but what will make him a star is his attitude, his application, and his awareness, and Guendouzi has them all in spades.