Aston Villa have been dealt a huge blow in their bid to bring Matteo Guendouzi to the Premier League on transfer deadline day.

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That's according to Fabrizio Romano, with the transfer insider revealing in a recent post on Twitter that, despite Villa being heavily linked with a move for the Olympique de Marseille midfielder this winter, there are no talks ongoing between the two clubs concerning a deal for the 23-year-old - with the Ligue 1 side not willing to part with the France international this month.

In his tweet, the Italian journalist said: "Olympique Marseille have no intention to let Mattéo Guendouzi leave today. No talks are taking place with Aston Villa."

Huge blow

Considering just how impressive Guendouzi has been in France over the last 18 months, coupled with Unai Emery already boasting a relationship with the midfielder from their shared time at Arsenal, the news that a deal for the 23-year-old now appears to be off is sure to have come as a huge blow to the Villa manager.

Indeed, over his 38 Ligue 1 appearances last season, the £24m-rated talent was in sensational form going forwards, scoring four goals, registering six assists and creating six big chances for his teammates, in addition to taking an average of 1.3 shots, making 0.9 key passes and completing 0.8 dribbles - at a success rate of 59% - per game.

The £41k-per-week midfielder also impressed in metrics more typical of his position last time out, making an average of 1.2 tackles, 0.4 interceptions and winning 4.3 duels - at a success rate of 52% - per match, as well as enjoying an average of 68.7 touches, playing 3.1 long balls and completing 48.7 total passes - at a success rate of 88% - per fixture.

These returns saw the player who journalist Jack Mendel claimed had "unreal ability at such a young age" average an extremely impressive Sofascore statistical match rating of 7.00, ranking him as Marseille's sixth-best performer in the top flight of French football last term.

It has been a similar story over Guendouzi's 18 league outings in the current campaign, with the 23-year-old having already scored one goal, provided three assists and created two big chances, in addition to making an average of 1.3 tackles, 0.7 key passes and winning 4.2 duels - at a success rate of 51% - per game.

These metrics have seen the former Gunner average an equally impressive Sofascore statistical rating of 6.92, currently ranking him as his side's 12th-best performer in Ligue 1.

As such, with Guendouzi quite clearly being a midfielder who is as strong going forward as he is in a defensive capacity, the news that a deal for the France international is now off the table will undoubtedly come as bad news to Emery - especially with such little time remaining in the January transfer window to source an alternative.