Matteo Guendouzi has described his time at Arsenal as ‘intense’ but has praised the Gunners pair of Mesut Ozil and Bernd Leno for their support while at the club.
Guendouzi, 21, arrived at the Emirates from Lorient in 2018 as a largely unheralded teenager and quickly established himself in the first team.
The Frenchman was a surprise hit in the Gunners midfield, but his success story did not last long and he firmly fell out of favour under Mikel Arteta when the Spaniard arrived as manager in December.
Problems with the young midfielder’s attitude on and off the pitch saw him relegated from the first team and even from first team training, instructed to train alone by Arteta after an altercation with Brighton striker Neal Maupay in a Premier League game.
Arsenal spent the summer trying to get rid of Guendouzi and he eventually joined Hertha Berlin on loan in the Bundesliga, where he is yet to make his debut.
Looking back on his time in north London, Guendouzi is taking on the positives, and remembers two teammates in particular fondly.
‘I played over 80 games there and had a good, intense time there,’ the Frenchman toldKicker.
‘I learned a lot there in terms of sport and grew up there. It was two good years for me.
‘I also had a very good relationship with Mesut Özil, and Bernd Leno, both of them told me a lot of good things about the Bundesliga.’
The way Guendouzi is talking, it sounds like he is unlikely to return to Arsenal, although he still has two years on his contract at the Emirates after his loan spell in Germany.
When he joined Hertha, he insisted it was not the end of his Arsenal career: ‘It is not that [his Arsenal career is over], I just really needed to play this year, a new challenge.
‘That was the most important thing for me. I am still young, I am only 21, so playing time was the top priority for me.
‘So Hertha Berlin, I know that I will be able to express myself in a magnificent league. They are a very good club with big ambitions. So, I have left to go on loan there for a year, so I will give everything I can for this club.
‘I needed playing time, I need to play, I needed to enjoy myself on the pitch and that is what I am going to do this year.’
