Arsenal have been linked with Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Partey over the past couple of weeks and it seems they are finally ready to take the next step – as per The Guardian.
According to The Guardian, Gunners manager Mikel Arteta is very much interested in signing the defensive midfielder and the club have already made contact with the 26-year-old’s representatives.
The report states: “The Premier League club has expressed the strongest interest so far in the 26-year-old Ghanaian.
“Arsenal have yet to submit an official bid although they have made contact with the player’s agent.
“Partey has a release clause of €50m (£43.6m) and the Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, is keen to add him to his squad in the summer.”
This will be great news for all the Arsenal fans since Thomas Partey has been a solid figure in Atletico Madrid’s midfield over the past couple of seasons and he will be the perfect upgrade to someone as fragile as Granit Xhaka.
Will Thomas Partey leave Atletico to join Arsenal?
Arsenal will surely be hopeful about luring the player out of Spain and make him sign a lucrative deal at the Emirates.
But right now, all the odds are stacked against the North London club regarding this signing.
As per the report, Atletico Madrid have no plans of parting with the player and they are already in talks over a new five-year deal with Thomas Partey.
The Madrid outfit have already offered the midfielder the new contract and right now they are hopeful he will put pen to paper pretty soon.
In his current contract, Thomas Partey has a release clause of £43.6 million which is very much within the reach of Arsenal but if he was to sign the new deal then surely this clause will skyrocket and the Gunners will have to watch him play for Atletico next season.
Another big problem for Arsenal is they won’t be playing in the Champions League next season and we are not quite sure Thomas will be ready to give up European football in order to be part of a rebuilding process at the Emirates.
