Arsenal set to offer Guendouzi bumper new deal and almost double his pay to £75k a week

ARSENAL are ready to reward Matteo Guendouzi’s impressive first season at the Emirates with a bumper new £75,000-a-week contract. The young French midfielder has been one of the stand-out stars for Unai Emery’s team but is one of the lowest-paid players in the squad. So now the club want to recognise his significant contribution by […]

ARSENAL are ready to reward Matteo Guendouzi’s impressive first season at the Emirates with a bumper new £75,000-a-week contract.

The young French midfielder has been one of the stand-out stars for Unai Emery’s team but is one of the lowest-paid players in the squad.

Reuters

So now the club want to recognise his significant contribution by almost doubling his current wages.

Guendouzi, 20, was a virtual unknown when he was signed from French second-division club Lorient for £8million last summer.

He was expected to spend his first year in England in a supporting role as a back-up squad player.

And even Emery did not envisage the raw youngster developing into such an important player so quickly.

But Sunday’s 3-1 win at Burnley was Guendouzi’s 47th appearance of the season, an achievement bettered only by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Lucas Torreira.

He has not missed a single game through injury, only one through suspension, and has been a key player in Arsenal’s run to this month’s Europa League final against Chelsea.

He still has three years remaining on his current contract which is worth about £40,000 a week.

But Arsenal are set to extend that deal to 2023 and pay him a basic £75k a week with the opportunity to earn more in performance-related bonuses.

That would still leave him on significantly less money than the likes of Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang.

Arsenal’s money men are under strict instructions to get a grip on the club’s spiralling annual wage bill which has now reached close to £240m.

But the departures of Aaron Ramsey, Petr Cech and Danny Welbeck will knock around £15m-a-year off that figure and give the club some leeway to reward Guendouzi for his impressive efforts.