Partey-poopers: Arsenal's transfer U-turn

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 23 Jul 2023 03:17 CDT
• 3 min read

Thomas Partey has looked set for the Arsenal exit door for much of this summer, but Mikel Arteta wants to keep the Ghanaian despite spending £105 million on Declan Rice - a player in his position.

The Gunners have been busy in the summer transfer window so far, spending more than £200m to bring Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber to the club - from West Ham, Chelsea and Ajax respectively.

Rice's long-awaited arrival had been preceded by Granit Xhaka's €25m departure to Bayer Leverkusen, and Partey was expected to follow suit, with Juventus and clubs in Saudi Arabia linked.

READ: Rice, Timber and Havertz: Is Arteta trying to rip off Guardiola?

But the former Atletico Madrid man started 28 of his 33 games in the Premier League last season as Arsenal finished as runners-up to Manchester City, and Arteta plan to use him again next season - according to the manager himself.

'Partey super-important'

"Thomas Partey is a super-important player for us and for me and we want him to be in the team," he said ahead of the Gunners' pre-season friendly against Manchester United in New Jersey.

"[He and Rice] can play together. That was in my plans - if you want to improve the squad and have more quality we need players who can play together and need players in the same positions who have to fight for their places. It's something we haven't had in the last few years.

READ: How Declan Rice will TRANSFORM Arsenal - Arteta

"We want to improve that and that's why we brought in Declan as well. Every time I spoke to [Partey] and had a conversation with him he's ready to stay with us."

Partey is valued at €21.2m by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm and might have fetched significantly more if Juve and Khaleej FC had got drawn into a bidding war, but Arsenal have other priorities for sale.

They hope to gain up to £50m for academy star Folarin Balogun, who scored 21 goals in 37 Ligue 1 games on loan with Reims last term, while Kieran Tierney leads a host of assets who have become fringe players in recent seasons.

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