Matteo Guendouzi will probably leave the club this summer after responding poorly to what Mikel Arteta wants, according to Charles Watts.

Guendouzi isn’t featuring at all for Arsenal at the moment, missing out on the last three matchday squads completely. He isn’t even in pictures from squad training sessions right now, in the aftermath of the Brighton match last month.

This is leading to a lot of speculation about his future, particularly as he only has a couple of years left on his contract. That’s not little enough for interested parties to force Arsenal into a corner, but it’s as good a time as any for the Gunners to cash in.

Goal’s Charles Watts told his YouTube channel in a Q&A that’s what he expects to happen.

“Guendouzi, I think will be sold,” Watts said. “I’ll be very surprised if he’s not now. He’s only got two years left on his contract, he isn’t responding in the way Arteta wants.

“If Arsenal are going to sell, it will be this summer. He’s someone you expect they’ll get good money for.”

Arteta and Guendouzi fall out

Watts clarified in the second part of his Q&A that Guendouzi and Arteta aren’t on great terms right now. Whilst that certainly started with the midfielder grabbing Neal Maupay by the throat at Brighton, it’s more about the events following that incident.

“The two of them (Arteta and Guendouzi) have had a bit of a falling out after what happened at Brighton,” Watts continued.

“Potentially not so much what happened in terms of the incident at Brighton, but the way Guendouzi has acted since it. In the talks, in the disciplinary meetings that Arsenal had.”

It certainly won’t help Guendouzi’s case that Arsenal aren’t struggling without him. They went from losing consecutive games whilst he was in the side to winning three in a row in his absence.

That’s not to say Guendouzi was at fault in defeat, necessarily. Just that he clearly isn’t a vital part of the process. If he won’t get on board, selling just makes sense.