Arsenal FC now have their fifth addition of the summer transfer window/Unai Emery era. Young FC Lorient midfielder Matteo Guendouzi joins Sampdoria midfielder Lucas Torreira, Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno, Borussia Dortmund center back Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Juventus defender Stephan Lichtsteiner as newly acquired Gunners in 2018.
Guendouzi, 19, moves over to north London from France’s Ligue 2, and becomes part of the midfield makeover going on at the Emirates this summer. Strengthening the midfield was a top priority for Emery this offseason, and he’s made some moves to try and make that happen.
Guendouzi and Torreira are inbound, while the outbound Jack Wilshere, who announced his departure from the club last month, finalized a move to West Ham United this week.
Guendouzi, a France U20 international, said that Arsenal is his dream club, one that he wanted to play for since childhood.
“My hope is to become a top player here at Arsenal. A lot of great players have played here. I want to become part of the club’s history and to achieve great things here. I want to win titles, titles, titles,” said Guendouzi, who will wear #29 with the Gunners.
“I want to establish myself here, which would be amazing. Winning silverware, as I said, is very important to me and winning things here at Arsenal would be incredible.”
Added Emery:
“We are delighted Matteo is joining us. He is a talented young player and a lot of clubs were interested in him. He has big potential and gained good first-team experience last season with Lorient.
Welcome to Arsenal, @MatteoGuendouzi ?#GunnerGuendouzi https://t.co/N02Ue3jSyu
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 11, 2018
“He wants to learn and improve and will be an important part of our first-team squad.”
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