A look at what happened to Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira after they left Arsenal.
- Arsenal’s post-Arsene Wenger recruitment has been questionable, with Unai Emery’s signings of Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira not working out as expected
- Lucas Torreira’s Arsenal career started well but quickly declined, leading to loan moves and eventually a transfer away from the Emirates Stadium
- Matteo Guendouzi showed promise at Arsenal but was eventually loaned out and then moved away from the club to rekindle his career elsewhere
Arsenal are currently regarded as one of the best teams in the Premier League, with a squad brimming with top talent from Europe and beyond.
This was on display for the majority of the 2022/23 season, as Arsenal came dangerously close to ending Manchester City’s Premier League dominance. It wasn’t to be for Mikel Arteta’s side that time, but the north London outfit has continued to develop and boast some of the best players on the continent.
However, in recent memory, Arsenal’s post-Arsene Wenger recruitment has been lacking at times. Unai Emery was one of the main culprits, as he struggled to make an impact during his brief tenure as manager.
Two of his final signings as Arsenal manager were midfielders Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira, both of whom cost the Gunners a lot of money. Both Guendouzi and Torreira were out the door almost as quickly as they were welcomed in, indicating that the moves didn’t go as planned.
But, now that their careers have stabilized following their exits from the Emirates Stadium, GIVEMESPORT has looked at what happened to Guendouzi and Torreira after they left Arsenal.
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2
Lucas Torreira
Torreira joined Arsenal in the summer of 2018, and there was a lot of excitement surrounding his arrival. The midfield anchor had impressed during a three-year loan spell with Sampdoria in Italy, and Arsenal paid £26 million to bring him to the Premier League.
The then-22-year-old was expected to be a fixture in Arsenal’s midfield for the next decade, and manager Emery was overjoyed to see him in Arsenal red. Upon Torreira’s arrival, the Spanish coach told the club website that the midfielder is a’very bright talent’ who wants to ‘keep on growing’ with the club.
| Lucas Torreira | Arsenal Career Stats |
| Matches Played | 89 |
| Minutes Played | 5,258 |
| Goals | 4 |
| Assists | 6 |
| Yellow Cards | 14 |
| Red Cards | 0 |
| All stats via Transfermarkt |
Torreira did have a successful debut season at Arsenal, appearing in 50 games across all competitions. Torreira, on the other hand, would only manage 39 more appearances for the club over the next three years, as he quickly fell out of favor following Emery’s dismissal in November 2019.
Torreira, a former Sampdoria player, won the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2019/20, but he only appeared twice during the Gunners’ cup run. It was clear early on that new manager Arteta didn’t rate him, and the rest of his Arsenal career was spent on loan.
The most successful was with Atletico Madrid during the 2020/21 season, when they defeated Barcelona and Real Madrid to win the La Liga title for the first time. However, as was the case at Arsenal, Torreira spent the majority of his time on the bench in Madrid, and he left the Spanish capital at the end of the season having made only 26 appearances across all competitions.
Torreira’s time at Arsenal would come to an end in the summer of 2022, when he agreed to join Turkish giant Galatasaray for a fee reported to be in the region of £5.5 million. Torreira has proven to be a hit in Turkey, appearing 34 times for Galatasaray during their record-extending Super Lig title-winning campaign for a fraction of the £26 million Arsenal paid for him four years ago.
Galatasaray qualified for the Champions League, where they went on to win a memorable game against Manchester United at Old Trafford in October 2023, in which Torreira played 61 minutes.
1
Matteo Guendouzi
Guendouzi, like Torreira, joined Arsenal as part of Emery’s 2018 summer spending spree, but unlike the Uruguayan, he didn’t come cheap. Instead, it appeared as if Arsenal had snatched a steal when they signed the promising French midfielder from Ligue 2 club Lorient for an undisclosed fee in the region of £8 million.
Guendouzi was a player dubbed for the future when he arrived at the Emirates Stadium at the age of 19, but he quickly found himself on the pitch and in the side during his first season at the club. Guendouzi made 48 appearances across all competitions under Emery in the 2018/19 season, which is impressive for a teenager.
Granted, Arsenal’s Europa League campaign aided his game time, but the French midfielder started seven of Arsenal’s 15 games in the competition and came off the bench as a substitute in the final against Chelsea. Of course, the Gunners were defeated in Baku by an Eden Hazard-inspired Chelsea, but the opportunity to win silverware at Arsenal would arrive the following season, just as it had for Torreira.
| Matteo Guendouzi | Arsenal Career Stats |
| Matches Played | 82 |
| Minutes Played | 5,419 |
| Goals | 1 |
| Assists | 5 |
| Yellow Cards | 21 |
| Red Cards | 1 |
| All stats via Transfermarkt |
Unfortunately for Guendouzi, fitness concerns would stop him from being in the matchday squad for the FA Cup final against Chelsea in 2020, but the midfielder did manage to pick up a winner’s medal nonetheless. It would prove to be his last action as an Arsenal player, as the same summer he was sent out on loan to the then-Bundesliga outfit Hertha Berlin.
Looking like he’d finally settled and found a home at Marseille, Guendouzi would go on to make a further 43 appearances across the 2022/23 season for the French side, only to once again be loaned out ahead of the 2023/24 campaign. Similarly to his original move away from Arsenal, this loan deal also includes an option to buy, with Lazio likely to pay Marseille a reported £12 million in the summer of 2024.
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