Arsenal: 3 improvements Matteo Guendouzi must make to become star

Matteo Guendouzi seemingly became an international sensation overnight, but the Arsenal man must make three improvements to become a superstar.

It was impossible to predict Matteo Guendouzi‘s opening Arsenal salvo. Matched up against Manchester City and Chelsea, Guendouzi shot out to the Premier League lead in challenges won, despite his side losing both fixtures.

Just like that, the legend of the Ligue 2 midfielder was born. Fans saw true brilliance in him and expected him to change the face of this midfield. He had bits and pieces of being a complete midfielder, with the ability to move the ball, win the ball, create with the ball—he did it all. Or at least it looked like he would be able to.

PSG thought so too. Just half a season into Guendouzi’s tenure, they were weighing up a £60m bid for the young Frenchman, a bid that never came through because the Gunners were determined to keep him.

Matteo Guendouzi must make these 3 improvements.

Now, after a falling out with Mikel Arteta earlier in the season, Guendouzi has struggled to get back to the same prestigious state that he was in under Unai Emery and when midfield help comes this summer, he will be even further out of the picture.

Yet he can still grow into a superstar if he improves on these three things. We start with No. 3.

3. Presence

I talk about this with every single midfielder out there. Perhaps it’s because Granit Xhaka has left me so spoiled that I expect it from everyone, but seeing as how Guendouzi is touted as the Xhaka replacement of the future, it’s even more important.

Guendouzi has no midfield presence. He gets dribbled past more than any Arsenal midfield—nearly twice as often as Xhaka—and he just hasn’t been able to establish himself in the midfield. The potential is there though.

Under Emery, when the midfield three was in effect with Guendouzi, Xhaka, and Lucas Torreira, the presence was collectively there, but in order to take his own individual abilities up a notch, he has to learn how to up this for himself. And that will be helped out a ton by the next to improvements on this list.

On to No. 2.