Premier League leaders Liverpool reportedly want to sign Atletico Madrid’s La Liga star Thomas Partey but will Jurgen Klopp nab Diego Simeone’s favourite?
“We’re talking about a great player here. I rate him very highly,” Diego Simeone told Football365 in January last year. “An amazing player. He could’ve played for Manchester City.”
Who was the subject of Simeone’s praise? If you said World Cup winner Antoine Griezmann, Spain star Saul Niguez, or even the exciting if erratic Angel Correa, then you’re dead wrong.
Instead, the awe-struck Argentine was paying a gushing tribute to Thomas Partey, one of the most underrated players in the whole of European football.
The late-blooming Ghana star might not be the most glamorous name on Atletico’s team sheet but he is one of the most important. The fact that Partey has played in all but two of the club’s 36 games in all competitions this season speaks volumes.
And it is not just Simeone who appreciates the influence of a man with a hammer of a shot and a paintbrush pass.
“Thomas is very good,” Cesc Fabregas wrote on Twitter after watching Partey outshine Ivan Rakitic, Frenkie De Jong and Artur during a La Liga clash with Barcelona back in December.
A Spanish football legend who conquered the world in 2010, while sharing a dressing room with Patrick Vieira, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and co, is well placed to pass judgement.
And, with a very affordable £45 million release clause in his contract (ESPN), Atletico fans everywhere will have a nagging sense of déjà vu at the back of their mind. Simeone’s once brilliant squad was ripped apart last summer and, according to CadenaSer, none other than European champions Liverpool have expressed an interest in getting the Partey started at Anfield.
£45 million would be a small price to pay for a man who, as Simeone, Fabregas and co will tell you, is quickly becoming the master of all trades, jack of nothing.
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