James McNicholas of The Athletic has been discussing Arsenal’s interest in Thomas Partey during a recent edition of the Headline podcast.
The North London club has been linked with a move for the 27-year-old midfielder with the La Liga club said to be interested in taking Arsenal’s Lucas Torreira the other way.
A deal that will see the Uruguayan swap the Emirates Stadium for the Wanda Metropolitano is said to be close, prompting the question as to whether that might increase the Gunners’ chances of landing the £36m-rated Ghanaian during this same transfer window.
On the subject, here is what McNicholas had to say:
“No, this is a separate negotiation and Arsenal’s interest in Partey is really long-standing, it goes back to around 2018 as well, they watched him multiple times, live either [via the] scouting department [or] via analytics.
“The situation of Partey basically remains the same. He has a release clause, it’s €50m.
“[Atletico Mardid] are pretty insistent they don’t want to let him go for anything less than that. I suppose the one advantage to Arsenal is they can kind of sit on that and wait until quite late in the window as they have done if it’s deal they want to pursue.
“They know what they need to do, they know that what they need to come up with, I think, you know before they can make a decision on that they’re waiting to see how certain other things play out.
“You know, there are other players who could leave Arsenal in this window.”
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The journalist made it very clear that in his view, the two aforementioned deals are not linked in any way and, therefore, if Arsenal wish to strengthen their midfield, they will need to get a move on ahead of the fast-approaching transfer deadline.
With the Ghanaian midfielder having picked up an impressive 7.08/10 average rating over 35 La Liga appearances for Atletico last season (per WhoScored), it is clear to see why the Gunners are keen on Partey.
So, it will be interesting to see if the north London club stumps up the cash for the middleman before the window shuts on Monday.