Transfer rumors involving Arsenal: Mikel Arteta must make a tough choice regarding Thomas Partey’s future before the January transfer window opens.
It was hard to envisage the Gunners being better off without Thomas Partey when Arsenal invoked his £45 million release clause from his contract at Atletico Madrid in 2020.
After three years, both on and off the field at the Emirates Stadium have undergone changes. In order to reclaim their place among Europe’s best, Arsenal, who has become one of the Premier League’s finest teams, has invested heavily in players like Declan Rice, Ben White, Kai Havertz, and Gabriel Jesus.
During that time, Partey has made over 100 appearances for the north Londoners and was the first-choice defensive midfielder for his first three seasons at the club. However, Rice’s club-record arrival from West Ham in the summer partnered with the Ghanaian’s unfortunate history with injuries means he has fallen down the ladder.
Arsenal has participated in 19 games this season in all competitions. After a ‘surgery’ on his thigh, Partey has only made five appearances and is anticipated to miss the rest of 2023, according to football.london’s understanding.
It’s become significantly clear that Arteta and technical director Edu Gaspar must address the issue and there’s no better time than the present. The January transfer window opens in just over a month’s time and the Gunners are anticipated to be busy.
A centre-forward, centre-back and wide attacker have all been envisioned in the opening six months of the season, but the uncertainty over Partey’s future adds another position into that equation.
Palhinha’s future is set to be contested in January after seeing his deadline day move to Bayern Munich collapse due to the Bundesliga window closing earlier than the Premier League. He has continued to shine for Marco Silva’s side this season – scoring a late leveller against Arsenal in August.
According to Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, Fulham have ‘signalled’ that they would allow Palhinha to leave for cheaper than the €65million (£56.6m) he came close to leaving for in August – despite him signing a 12-month extension to his contract in September. Bayern remain interested but it’s said that Thomas Tuchel’s side will refuse to pay €60million (£52.3m) or more.
That leaves a door open for Arsenal and there’s enough reason for them to hijack the deal. First of all, just as he was last year for some time, Palhinha has completed the most combined tackles and interceptions in the Premier League with 69 – 15 more than Tottenham’s Yves Bissouma.
Another reason why Arsenal should bite the bullet and make Palhinha their marquee January signing is Fulham’s movement in the market themselves. According to reports, representatives from Craven Cottage have scouted Gunners target Andre and they could jump the queue to sign the Brazilian.