West Ham join Aston Villa to pursue former Arsenal star Matteo Guendouzi

Even though a deal is unlikely to be completed before the current transfer window closes, West Ham has joined Aston Villa in its pursuit of former Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi.

The Frenchman briefly shone when he first joined Arsenal in 2018 as an unknown from Lorient, but he swiftly lost favor at the Emirates.

He transferred from Hertha Berlin to Marseille on loan before relocating there permanently. While playing well for the Ligue 1 team, he earned a spot in the France team that advanced to the World Cup final in Qatar over the weekend.

Premier League teams are interested in bringing the 23-year-old back to England as a result of his achievements, with West Ham and Villa taking note of the former Arsenal player.

Following news that Villa liked Guendouzi from Foot Mercato, L’Equipe in France reports that the Hammers are expressing interest.

When questioned earlier this month about working with the Frenchman once more, Villa manager Unai Emery replied that any incoming players would depend on the Villains first offloading players.

‘I can’t comment about players potentially coming here because right now we didn’t do anything about it,’ Emery stated earlier in January. Some players, of course, may be an excellent option to invite if I knew them.

‘At the moment the club is hoping to add some more players in the squad.

‘At the beginning we were speaking about the possibility of some players to leave and if, like Cameron Archer, he left first, we have more players in the squad now with this possibility to leave.

‘If we can do it then we can add some players, but not specifically speaking about one name like Matteo.

‘The possibility is to improve and have better balance in the squad with different profiles and trying to improve every time the players in the team.’

Marseille are not keen to sell and the player is not desperate to leave, but a bid of around £40m could make things happen for Guendouzi’s suitors.