Partey’s shocking injury record since €50m Arsenal move

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 2 min read

Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey suffered yet another injury on Saturday in what is becoming an increasingly frustrating first season at the Emirates.

Big things were expected of the Ghanaian midfielder when Arsenal activated the €50 million clause in Partey’s Atletico Madrid contract towards the end of the summer transfer window.

Partey had established himself as one of European football’s most dominant central midfielders during his time at Atletico.

It was also noted just how physically fit the 27-year-old was. Upon arriving in London, Partey had incredibly missed just six games and 29 days due to injuries throughout his entire career.

This was despite playing well over 200 games in Spain and for his national team.

However, since moving to Arsenal, Partey has struggled horribly with injuries.

He suffered a thigh muscle strain in the 3-0 home defeat by Aston Villa in November and was subsequently sidelined from November 8 to December 4.

Partey then sustained a related hip injury which kept him out of action from December 6 to January 11.

And having only just worked his way back towards full fitness following that setback, Partey was once again forced off with a thigh injury in Saturday’s 1-0 Premier League defeat to Aston Villa.

The injury is currently being assessed, with manager Mikel Arteta saying at full-time: “He had a muscular injury so we had to take him off. He could not carry on playing.

“I don’t know how serious it is. We will see the extent of the injury. He wasn’t feeling well enough to continue playing so we had to take him off.”

Before this season, Partey has astonishingly only missed one game through injury in almost five years.

He had made 50, 42 and 46 appearances, respectively, for Atletico in his last three seasons there.

This term he has only made nine Premier League starts, playing the full 90 minutes in just three of these matches.

He has no goals in all competitions and just one assist in what has been a very disappointing season for player and club thus far.

Arsenal are currently languishing in mid-table in the Premier League after suffering successive defeats this week.