Thomas de-Partey: Arsenal man 'agrees terms with Saudi club'

Stuart Telford

• 16 Jul 2023 09:25 BST
• 3 min read

Thomas Partey has reportedly agreed terms with a Saudi Pro League club following Declan Rice's arrival at Arsenal.

Rice completed his £105 million transfer to Arsenal from West Ham on Saturday, and whilst most of his new teammates will be pleased with his arrival, Partey's minutes in midfield could be compromised.

Kai Havertz has also been signed this summer, and while the German was used as a False 9 by Chelsea, it looks like Arteta plans to use him in midfield if Thursday's 1-1 draw with Nuremberg is anything to go by.

READ: Arsenal legend 'pinching himself' after Rice transfer with Edu 'not done yet'

Partey has seen enough, and although Juventus were credited with an interest in the former Atletico Madrid man, it looks like his next step will be the Saudi Pro League.

"Thomas Partey finally agrees with a Saudi club," tweeted @football_ll55, an Asian football outlet with 550.6k followers.

Partey to Khaleej?

Whilst they don't state which Saudi club that may be, Khaleej FC were recently linked with a move for the Ghanaian.

READ: EXCLUSIVE: Thomas Partey asks to LEAVE Arsenal

Partey started 28 of his 33 Premier League games last season as Arsenal finished as runners-up to Manchester City, and has made 99 appearances in total since his €50m arrival from Atletico in 2020.

He has contributed five goals and four assists in that time, but where he really comes into his own is on the other side of the ball, with an average of three tackles per game last season, which were complemented by eight progressive passes.

It is unclear how much Arsenal would recoup for Partey, although he is now valued at €21.2m by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm. Arsenal recently received €25m in selling Partey's fellow midfielder Granit Xhaka to Bayer Leverkusen.

It is understood Arsenal will move for Southampton's Romeo Lavia if Partey leaves. Liverpool are also interested in the former Manchester City youngster, but now look set to move for Borussia Monchengladbach's Manu Kone instead.