ARTETA'S FALLOUT: RéGIS LE BRIS WANTS MATTéO GUENDOUZI DESPITE PAST ATTITUDE ISSUES
Head Coach Régis Le Bris has contacted Lazio regarding a €25M January move for Mattéo Guendouzi, a player he previously coached at Lorient.
Régis Le Bris, the head coach for a Premier League team, first mentioned bringing back French player Guendouzi last month. They had worked together before at Lorient. Journalist Sacha Tavolieri is reporting that the team has now formally contacted Lazio about a possible deal in January.
Le Bris said in November, I worked with him at Lorient, so we keep in touch. Right now, it's too early to talk about any transfer in January, when he was initially asked about Guendouzi.
Guendouzi, who is now 26, moved to Lazio in Italy after leaving Marseille. Before that, he played 103 games for Marseille after being initially loaned from Arsenal. This season, he has played 13 times in Serie A and scored twice. Lazio values him at around €25m.
His value was once at £45m when Unai Emery was his coach at Arsenal. But it dropped quickly after Arteta took over.
After arriving in London, Guendouzi played 48 games in his first season and played in every league game during Emery’s second season. But once Arteta became coach in December 2019, his role decreased. He only played a full 90 minutes three times under Arteta and was left out of the squad for the final eight league games of the season.
The breaking point happened in June 2020 at Brighton after Arsenal lost 2-1. Guendouzi argued with Neal Maupay after the game and was accused of taunting Brighton players about their salaries, though this was never officially proven.
A source at the Daily Mail said, He was saying the Brighton players were rubbish and that he and his teammates earn much more than they ever will. Arsenal is a good club and doesn't like that kind of behavior.
There had already been some tension. David Ornstein reported that there was an argument during training in Dubai, which led to Guendouzi being disciplined by Arteta and Edu. His behavior off the field was also questioned.
He never played for Arsenal again.
Arteta often spoke about his strict standards, and Guendouzi’s attitude towards authority had been questioned before in France. Jérémie Aliadière, a former Arsenal and Lorient player, told Le Télégramme, After my last season in Lorient, when he started training and playing with us, I wondered about his attitude. I thought he might need to change a bit.
His loan to Hertha Berlin also got mixed reviews. The coach at the time, Pál Dárdai, said, It's like he's going through puberty; he's a bit of a rebel. He needs to work hard and learn. But Hertha's sporting director, Arne Friedrich, praised his attitude: He's a great player. He’s very calm. He wants the ball all the time, even when he’s under pressure.
Guendouzi later admitted that he made mistakes while working with Arteta, but he doesn't regret his time in England. He told The Athletic, I didn’t work with Arteta much, only for six months. I was 19, so I was learning every day. I wouldn’t make the same mistakes now that I did when I was 19.
He added, I don't regret anything I did at Arsenal. I was 19, and I played 85 games in two years. That's a lot of games for a big club like Arsenal.
AWONIYI DOUBLE LEAVES NOTTINGHAM FOREST ON THE VERGE OF PREMIER LEAGUE SAFETY
Nottingham Forest moved closer to safety with a 3-1 win over Chelsea, while West Ham fell into the relegation zone after Spurs won.
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Nottingham Forest came out of the weekend looking pretty safe after pulling off an impressive 3-1 win at Chelsea. They’re almost clear of the relegation mess. Tottenham’s big away win at Aston Villa shook things up too, and now West Ham are back in the bottom three, running out of time faster than ever.
Forest have stepped up just when they needed to, leaving West Ham and Tottenham behind with a string of solid performances. Honestly, no one saw this coming, especially since Vitor Pereira shuffled his lineup with eight changes, fresh off a Europa League win against Aston Villa.
Even so, Forest were ahead within 90 seconds, thanks to Taiwo Awoniyi’s quick strike. By the 15th minute, Igor Jesus calmly buried a penalty after Malo Gusto’s reckless foul in the box. Chelsea had a chance to get back in it, but Cole Palmer wasted a penalty right before the break after a scary head collision involving Jesse Derry.
Awoniyi doubled down and scored again early in the second half, pushing Forest six points ahead of West Ham with just three games left.
West Ham’s weekend started badly; they looked flat and lost to Brentford. Things got worse Sunday night when Tottenham pulled off their first back-to-back Premier League wins since August 2025, beating a heavily rotated Aston Villa side 2-1.
Forest is now out of West Ham’s reach, or almost. Tottenham’s still close enough for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team to worry, but with three tough games coming up, Spurs could stay up even without another win, unless West Ham digs deep and pulls off something unexpected before their home finale against Leeds.
Right now, Forest can practically taste safety. Spurs finally see a way out after weeks of struggle. As for West Ham, they’re left hoping for a miracle, a last-minute twist to dodge the drop.
CESC FABREGAS CONFIRMS INTEREST IN PREMIER LEAGUE RETURN AMID CHELSEA'S MANAGER SEARCH
As Chelsea searches for a new manager, Cesc Fabregas breaks his silence on his future at Como and his Premier League ambitions.
Cesc Fabregas recalls exactly how a conversation with Jose Mourinho prompted him to join Chelsea, despite having the opportunity to return to Arsenal.
After winning six trophies in just three seasons, the Spanish World Cup winner left Barcelona for the second time in 2014. That summer, Fabregas made a move back to the Premier League, signing with Chelsea for about €33 million.
He already knew English football well. Fabregas had arrived at Arsenal as a 16-year-old from Barcelona in 2003 and made 212 Premier League appearances for them. When he decided to leave Barcelona, Manchester City also wanted him, but Chelsea convinced him, mostly thanks to Mourinho.
Talking with talkSPORT’s Rory Jennings on YouTube, Fabregas laid out how it all happened. “Honestly, when I made up my mind to leave Barcelona, my first thought was just to go back to Arsenal. They had this buyback clause; they had two weeks to use it after I told them I was leaving. They knew about it but didn’t take it. That surprised me a little, but in the end, I had to think about my career. I was 27, at the peak of my career, and I wanted to continue performing and winning trophies. City and Chelsea were both options.
“But when Mourinho spoke to me, that was it. He showed me his plans for the team and told me about Diego Costa, Courtois, and Filipe Luis and how, with those guys, we’d win the league. He was right, by the way. We won both the Premier League and the Carling Cup.”
Fabregas wasted no time winning over Chelsea fans. On his debut at Burnley, he set up two goals, including a stunning assist for Andre Schurrle. He finished his first season at Chelsea with five goals and 24 assists, along with Premier League and League Cup medals.
Things dipped the next season. Fabregas got just 15 goal contributions, and Chelsea slipped all the way to tenth. But when Antonio Conte took charge in 2016-17, they bounced back, and Fabregas picked up another league title.
He added an FA Cup win in 2018, his second, after his earlier one with Arsenal, and left for Monaco a few months later. His last Chelsea match came in the FA Cup against Nottingham Forest. When he got subbed off, he couldn’t hold back tears.
Chelsea supporters still sing about him; that “Oh, Fabregas is magic...” chant sticks around. And with his name in the conversation for a possible return, maybe they haven’t seen the last of him yet.
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