Arsenal were said to be interested in signing Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid and as per the player’s father, the two parties are already in talks over a possible deal.
Mikel Arteta is looking to add a new defensive midfielder to his ranks in the summer and the 26-year-old would have been the perfect alternative to the mediocre Granit Xhaka.
Talking about Arsenal’s interest, Jacob Partey admitted, as reported by Goal: “I called my son after hearing the rumours and he told me that the rumours are true.
“He told me they are holding talks between him and Arsenal. It all depends on the offer Atletico are demanding.
“If he goes to Arsenal, fine, they have a lot of supporters in Ghana. I will be happy if he decides to move to Arsenal. What they are discussing now is how Atletico will release him.”
So clearly, every Arsenal fan was joyous that their club was finally going to bring in a top-class player in the summer but it looks like the deal is far from closed.
Atletico Madrid have no plans on a transfer:
JJ Sports, who represent the 26-year-old, have come out to clear the air over this whole rumour and have made a very short but crisp reply to the player’s father’s statement.
The agency said, as quoted by Goal: “It’s totally untrue.”
Furthermore, there are also reports that Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has no plans of parting with Thomas this summer and the club are already making plans to offer him a new deal.
Right now, his current contract has a release clause of €50 million but the Spanish side are looking to bump it up to somewhere around €100 million. His current deal expires in 2023 but the club are also looking to add two more years to it.
Atletico Madrid seem more than happy with the player and are confident that he will agree to the terms of the new offer.
So clearly, Arsenal are not as close as we had thought previously and it would take some real convincing from Mikel Arteta to force Atletico on selling the midfielder off in the summer.
