Guendouzi continues to shine light on Arteta's shrewdest Arsenal transfer

Of all the contributory factors in Arsenal’s title-winning season of 2025-26, discipline was the one that tended not to get mentioned too much.

Over the course of their triumphant Premier League campaign, none of Mikel Arteta’s players received a red card. Only Manchester City and Brighton could boast the same record. And Arsenal’s collection of 51 yellow cards was the lowest tally in the Premier League by some distance.

They might not be unfamiliar with dark arts but this is currently an Arsenal team that keeps its composure. Which is why Arteta would be allowed a wry smile if he saw the chaos caused by Matteo Guendouzi in Lyon on Wednesday night after he helped Fenerbahce to a 2-1 win that means they are in this season’s Champions League.

Guendouzi made a reasonably compelling case for his defence. “For 90 minutes, even longer with the warm-up, they insulted my family,” he said, referring to the Lyon crowd. “It’s something that gets to you. They insulted my mother and my family, and to me, that was disrespectful. Beyond that, if we can’t celebrate the way we want anymore, I think that is a shame.”

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Fair enough. But look at the footage of Guendouzi’s celebrations and it is clear he is goading the Lyon players and supporters. He has to take his share of the blame for the violent scenes which have gone viral on social media.

And that will not be a surprise to Arteta. After almost eight years in charge, the significance of one decision in 2020 has, understandably, been forgotten. But Guendouzi’s antics in Lyon shone a colourful light on the abrupt end to what had been shaping up to be an Arsenal career that had decent potential.

And it marked Arteta down as a manager who wants no nonsense from his players and is not prepared to indulge nonsense, no matter how talented the player is. Guendouzi certainly caught the eye when he was recruited as a 19-year-old from Lorient by Unai Emery in 2018.

While Emery indulged the teenager, Arteta was quickly unimpressed when he succeeded his fellow Spaniard. During a mid-season training camp in Dubai, Guendouzi was involved in a bust-up with members of the Gunners staff after having an altercation with a team-mate.

Arteta was deeply unimpressed but Guendouzi managed to convince the new manager he deserved a chance. But his time under Arteta came to an unhappy end after Guendouzi was involved in a fracas after a defeat at Brighton.

Guendouzi actually escaped any official sanction after grabbing Neal Maupay - no stranger to controversy himself - but Arteta had seen enough. He called Guendouzi into a meeting and was said to be unimpressed by the French youngster’s attitude. There was little doubt about his talent but Arteta was clearly not taken by his character.

He spent the next season at Hertha Berlin and another loan arrangement at Marseille was made permanent. Guendouzi then had a couple of seasons at Lazio before Fenerbahce paid £25million for him early this year.