Unai Emery continues to try and lure Matteo Guendouzi to Aston Villa with the former Arsenal midfielder’s time at Marseille looking like it is coming to an end.

A little over a week ago it was reported that Unai Emery and Aston Villa would be willing to bid as much as €40m to sign Matteo Guendouzi from Marseille.

Although the midfielder is not said to be that excited at the prospect of moving to Villa Park, Emery is not giving up his chase with a ‘fabulous offer’ on the table for a player who ‘may be playing his last matches’ for Marseille, according to L’Equipe.

Emery is known to be a massive admirer of Guendouzi and he has previously praised Guendouzi’s skills and potential as a young player. He also gave him significant playing time during his tenure as Arsenal’s head coach, with Emery stating that he values Guendouzi’s energy and intensity on the field.

A move might sound surprising to many people. Guendouzi has generally been loving life with Marseille, but their change of manager, from Jorge Sampaoli to Igor Tudor, has not best pleased the 23-year-old.

In the summer, after complaining about Tudor’s tactics in a friendly, Guendouzi was told in no uncertain terms that he could leave if he didn’t like it.

He did not leave, but he is now being heavily linked with a move in this January window.

Emery picked the midfielder 66 times while he was at Arsenal, but, after he was sacked, Guendouzi only played a handful of times under Mikel Arteta and never featured again for the club after a run-in with Brighton’s Neal Maupay.

Guendouzi was valued at around €45m when Arteta arrived but the club sold him for just €11m. Should a move go through in this window, however, Arsenal will earn more from his sell-on clause.

He has scored four and assisted four this season in 25 games, bringing his total to nine, with 18 assists, in 81 games. At Arsenal, he played 82 times, scoring one and assisting five.