Matteo Guendouzi has caused quite the commotion since his return to France, with the midfielder making a habit of hitting the headlines for his rogue antics.
The 22-year-old, who initially joined Arsenal in 2018 from Lorient for around £7 million, was sent on a season-long loan to Marseille that included an €11 million (£9.3m) obligation to buy clause in the deal, as reported by French journalist Mohamed Toubache-Ter.
Guendouzi initially impressed under Unai Emery and continued to do so under Mikel Arteta when he took over, up until the 'Project Restart' fixture when the Gunners visited Brighton.
The France international was caught up in a scuffle with Neal Maupay and Guendouzi was pictured wrapping his hand around the striker's neck.
A collision between Maupay and Bernd Leno forced the goalkeeper off due to injury and Guendouzi wasn't pleased to say the least; talkSPORT reported that the former Arsenal midfielder tried to fight his teammate’s corner by taunting Brighton's players and shouting about how much money they earn.
Arteta wasn't best pleased and Guendouzi was sent out on loan to Bundesliga outfit Hertha Berlin last season before sealing his latest switch to Marseille
The Arsenal Way writer and presenter Tom Canton spoke to French football expert Jeremy Smith to explore Guendouzi's antics in France this season, live on The Arsenal Way youtube channel.
Smith began by recalling Guendouzi's first incident that hit the headlines following his move to Marseille when the midfielder fuelled a fire that broke out between Dimitri Payet and OGC Nice fans.
"The first incident was at Marseille versus Nice," he said. "The Nice fans started throwing stuff and Payet got hit with a bottle before throwing it back into the crowd, which started a bit of riot.
"Obviously, Guendouzi was first on the scene just throwing fuel on the fire and that you can maybe defend; heat of the moment, defending your teammate."
But, despite the act of camaraderie that can be defended by Smith, Guendouzi showed no signs of satisfying his taste for mayhem. An on-field confrontation with Marseille's big summer signing Gerson, who joined for £22.5 million from Brazilian side Flamengo, apparently proved the final straw for some in the dressing room.
Smith continued: "A couple of weeks ago [in Marseille's clash against Lens] he ran up to Gerson, who hasn't been playing well and looks really short on confidence, publicly ran up to him after one of Lens' goal and said, 'Are you going to run anytime soon?', before Payet had to break up a potential fight.
"Then, following that a journalist published a story saying that a few Marseille players are already beginning to have enough of his attitude and lots of theatrical antics, praying on his knees sort of saying, 'why can't everyone else be as good as me?'.
"Marseille is always a soap opera and looking at his past there's no smoke without fire, so he's one to watch out for."
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