Arsenal: Selling Matteo Guendouzi a mistake that will keep giving

Arsenal’s quest for free and swap deals has lead to ideas—some worse than others. Matteo Guendouzi as a makeweight is one bad idea.

Arsenal certainly needs help in more than a couple areas, but with a questionable budget, they’re having to get creative. Reports indicate that they will be looking for primarily free and swap deals in order to plug the gaps in the squad and this has led to a lot of ideas. Not all of which are good ideas.

The recent one involved including Matteo Guendouzi in a swap deal, perhaps in exchange for Thomas Partey. Guendouzi has yet to really take off at the Emirates, but turning him into a makeweight? That’s a mistake right now, and it’s a mistake that will keep on giving. Not unlike Serge Gnabry. (Though not quite as bad, because nothing could ever be as bad.)

Thomas Partey is the top of the transfer spectrum. He is the No. 1 target. He is everything we need and honestly if we only got Thomas Partey, I would still be a pretty happy camper.

Matteo Guendouzi is more to Arsenal than a makeweight

That’s how you know that including Guendouzi as a makeweight is a bad idea. Because even if losing him ensures us getting Partey, it’s still not a good idea.

Guendouzi burst onto the scene with the help of Unai Emery, who used him fairly regularly. The young Frenchman proved to be one of the brightest young talents in all of Europe and the heir incumbent to Granit Xhaka. He has tremendous potential, tremendous immediate ability, and even if he isn’t the answer right now, it’s rarely a good idea to sell a future answer just for an immediate fix.

Guendouzi is going to be something as soon as he starts getting used consistently. Mikel Arteta hasn’t found the best use for him yet, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a lot closer than it feels. If Unai Emery could get the best of him then Arteta, who is mastering this midfield piece by piece, is going to find the best way to use him.

Remember, Guendouzi was linked to a £60m move to PSG. We turned that down. It sounds crazy, but to trade him out for Partey would be a downgrade, at least monetarily.

You can’t lose Guendouzi. Just because he isn’t immediately viable doesn’t mean that we should ditch him for a quick fix. Let’s get Partey another way.