Edu scouts hidden transfer gems as two names left to replace Thomas Partey at Arsenal
The offers arrived for Thomas Partey in the summer transfer window just gone. Interest from Italy emerged first before it is understood the Gunners had proposals for Saudi Arabia falling short of their valuation for the Ghanaian international.
The decision was made for Partey to stay despite the £105million arrival of Declan Rice. Partey then started the first three games of the Premier League season, however, was injured in training ahead of the visit of Manchester United. The Ghana FA confirmed the issuebut Mikel Arteta contradicted their prediction that the 30-year-old would be out for just a “couple of weeks”.
“I don’t know, unfortunately, he got an injury in training and it doesn’t look good, we need some more tests, we believe he’s going to be out for weeks,” he said. “We think it’s a groin but can be something in between.”
With Partey out for potentially the next six weeks or more, there are serious questions being raised about his future. The famous statistic that he has featured in the region of only 64% of games since his arrival in 2020 is a critical factor in this thinking.
The arrival of Rice has shown a future beyond the player and the depth that exists in Jorginho and Mohamed Elneny, who is expected to return soon from his own injury, will be tasked with standing into the gap left by the former Atletico Madrid man’s latest absence. But in 2024, potentially as early as the January transfer window, it will be time to think about the next step.
There is a feeling that the summer of next year will be focused on the major recruitment of a new forward to reinforce the options in attack and bring further competition to the likes of Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus. Yet, with the departure of such a player
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