Aston Villa have made a bid for a player Unai Emery knows very well having given the star his debut in England.
With the excitement of a Champions League campaign on the horizon, Aston Villa have their work cut out to be ready to compete with Europe’s elite clubs.
That task has been made more difficult by the need to make sales in order to balance the books and comply with PSR, with Douglas Luiz looking set to depart imminently for this reason.
Villa have been strongly linked with a cut-price move for Luton Town’s Ross Barkley, but reports have claimed that the club have recently‘proposed’ a £21 million bid to sign Matteo Guendouzi from Lazio.
Unai Emery gave Matteo Guendouzi his opportunity in England
Villa boss Unai Emery and Lazio midfielder Guendouzi’s paths have crossed before, with both manager and player arriving at Arsenal in the summer of 2018.
Guendouzi was just 19 at the time, whilst Emery had the unenviable task of replacing legendary Gunners manager Arsene Wenger.
With many viewing Guendouzi’s £7 million purchase as very much one for the future, it was a surprise when Emery threw the youngster in for his Premier League debut against Manchester City on the opening day of the 2018/19 season.
However, the Spanish coach clearly felt he was ready and the comments Emery made at the time should give Villa fans real optimism should the pair reunite this summer.
Speaking after Arsenal lost to City 3-1 in February 2019, Emery said on Guendouzi: “The first impression from him is very good. We saw this from the first weeks of pre-season when he arrived here and started training.
“For example, his very big decision to decide not to play with the national team in the summer because he wanted to stay and work with us to show his capacity in pre-season.
“He earned the possibility to take minutes in the first XI. His adaptation was very quick. Now his progress is very good. He is very young.
He is a very young player, his present is very good but his ambition is to grow a lot with us and become an important Premier League player.
“When we talk about the need to be calm and patient and this is one season. He needs to work every day with ambition, as he is doing now.
“Every training, every match, he shows his ambition and motivation to be an important player. It is the same for all players.
Matteo Guendouzi could now be ‘important Premier League player’ for Aston Villa
Guendouzi made 81 appearances for Arsenal before Mikel Arteta made it clear he had no future at the club in 2020.
Now, four years later, Guendouzi has the chance to become the ‘important Premier League player’ Emery prophesied in 2019 at his Villa side.
The 25-year-old has always been talented, but it is his combative nature and relentless running that could see him really help the Villa faithful soon forget about the potential loss of Luiz.
Villa fans will hope Monchi can secure a deal as soon as possible for a player with a point to prove in England after the way Arteta disregarded him in North London.
To add to his qualities, Guendouzi has 14 Champions League games under his belt, as well as 23 in the Europa League, in a season where European experience will play its part for Villa.
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