Why are Arsenal letting Guendouzi leave so cheaply?
by Dan  Organizing the Euro 2020 predictions competition meant that I could stay away as much as possible from ridiculous transfer speculation. A tradition where every summer I question the clubs lack of ambition and end up debating with a reader because they believe unrealistic rumours. Its not helped by the occasional person who pretends they have contacts for the sake of views, which is translation for; they read something on a website and are now acting like its their own source. The conclusion is that we start the season not having the net spend of the teams who finished above us. Im then called negative for not agreeing that a squad who finished 8th can suddenly compete with a Man City who have spent more. The one thing you could always say about Arsenal is based purely on a business; we are very well run. Yet, that can now be questioned with the news that Guendouzi has been loaned to Marseille (Saliba is equally expected to be loaned to the same club). Frozen out by Arteta, Guendouzi was a resource we were relying on bringing in some money from. The Gunners are in a unique situation. The Pandemic has robbed sides of match-day revenue for over a year. Making it the most inconvenient time for us not to have any European income to rely on. So in a period where most owners would prefer to only spend if needed, we have to improve one of our worst squads in the Premiership era. I feel sorry for the Kroenke Family. Its like the boy who cried wolf in terms of this being a window where they have genuine restrictions on their spending, yet fans have heard years of excuses they wont tolerate any more. At 73, our American owner isnt going to suddenly change an ethos which has made him a Billionaire. Hes not going to suddenly change principles based on customers in a different country to him holding small protests. Hes not going to care now when he hasnt in over a decade. Thats why Im disappointed that a youngster who once had a huge reputation hasnt recouped a transfer fee. We will get 3 million as a loan fee with certain criteria depending on Marseille buying the 22-year-old for 12 million. There is zero obligation for a permanent deal and even if there was, we need money now! One of the myths about Arsene Wenger was he was responsible for our failure to recoup decent amounts for talent compared to say Liverpool. Liverpool got approx. 20 million for the likes of Solanke and Jordan Ibe. The Frenchman has been gone for 3 years now and it remains a department we need to be more aggressive in. We simply should quote the value of the midfielder and if potential buyers disagree then you end negotiations. Instead clubs aware of Arsenals need for money seem to be playing poker and we havent been brave enough to call their bluff. There is every chance that the players reputation of attitude problems has put off suitors, but our manager hasnt helped the situation. I agreed with Artetas stance that a young mans first response to a defeat being to boast about his salary, is not the kind of personality we want, especially if he cant then apologise. Yet the Spaniard showed his cards by making it obvious there was no way back for the Frenchman. Even when subs were increased as part of project restart, the player couldnt make the bench at the expense of Matt Smith! He and Ozil were famously banned from Wembley and not being allowed to celebrate our FA Cup win. The insistence that last preseason was a fresh start for everyone was a lie. A more experienced coach maybe would at least say the right things to stop a players valuation dwindling. By making it so apparent you have washed your hands of a talent, suitors will low ball you. The issue being that this situation is not a one off. Players on huge wages were not even registered in squads, quite literally paid to sit at home. We ended up paying people to rip up their contracts. That will only increase the need for Arteta to start the next campaign well. Part of his job is to get the best out of the resources he has. At Man City that was his strength, his ability on the training pitch to teach players on a 1-1 basis. At the Emirates hes too quick to write off individuals. He sees something he doesnt like; he simply discards them. An employer (understandably) wont keep tolerating that. They are paying you a lot of money to work with the tools you got. Theres only so many players they will lose value on. In his first year in English Football, there was talk that Europes finest were keeping an eye on Guendouzi. He was viewed as a player who had a lot of resale value. He has to take responsibility for his career stagnating. At Lorient and Hertha Berlin the summary was the same. Work rate was not in doubt but off the pitch immature with a refusal to reflect. His social media post saying goodbye to Gooners showed perhaps hes learnt lessons after previous ones had hints of cheap shots about them. The fact hes bidding farewell indicates hes been told Marseille are viewing this long term as a transfer. Hes still good enough to make us regret not all parties finding a compromise. I certainly wouldnt be shocked if in the future we are scratching our heads at 15 million. At the moment we get 3 million to get a player off the wage bill. Meanwhile Man United are buying Sancho! Simple. The priority remains finding value over making us a better Football team. Kroenke sets the criteria for the wage bill to be slashed. He will look at it as simple as; not having to pay someone 4,000 pound a week while having 3 million to put in the bank. Be kind in the comments  Dan