Arsenal have allegedly made contact to sign Thomas Partey.
According to The Guardian, Arsenal have made contact with the agent of Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Partey – but he has an offer to stay put.
It’s claimed that Mikel Arteta wants to bring Partey to the Emirates Stadium this summer, with real interest in paying his €50million (£43.5million) release clause.
Partey’s agent has been informed of Arsenal’s interest, despite many believing that the Gunners won’t be in a position to splash the cash this summer or whenever the transfer market actually opens.
However, Atletico unsurprisingly want to keep Partey, and have offered to double his £65,000-a-week wages, putting him onto £130,000-a-week whilst increasing his release clause to €100million (£87million).
That would make Partey one of Atletico’s biggest earners, whilst raising the price tag to £87million would certainly leave Arsenal out of the race for some time.
Partey, 26, has notched three goals and one assist in 35 games for Atletico this season, and primarily plays as a holding or box-to-box midfielder for Diego Simeone.
The Ghanaian is strong and combative, but also has real ability on the ball, and would be a fine complement to Granit Xhaka in the heart of the Arsenal midfield, or even emerge as Arsenal’s version of Fernandinho, who was key to Manchester City when Arteta was coaching there.
One concern would be the Africa Cup of Nations in 2021, as Partey would join Nicolas Pepe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in heading to the tournament as things stand, leaving the Gunners a little short of quality if they manage to pull this deal off.
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