27 October 2023 , 10:18
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Thomas Partey is growing frustrated with his Arsenal role and could consider an exit come January.
The Ghanaian moved to the Emirates back in 2020 and was an integral figure for several years, proving to be influential in last season's Premier League title push. But he has been hampered by injury this term and, upon his return, has struggled for minutes.
Declan Rice's arrival has shaken up Arsenal's midfield picture whilst Kai Havertz's signing also added more competition. Partey's game time has been limited as a result and he's grown 'increasingly dissatisfied' with his standing and may look to move on, according to Tutto Juve.
Juventus themselves, who have had to deal with injury problems to the likes of Paul Pogba, would consider making a move, although only on loan, such are the finances involved. Arsenal spent £45million to land Partey from Atletico Madrid several years ago.
His decline in minutes comes despite Mikel Arteta's insistence that he wanted to keep the player and maintained Rice's arrival would impact on him. He said: "Without a question of a doubt, Thomas Partey is a super important player for us and for me. I want him to be in the team. Every time I spoke to him and every time I have a conversation with him, his will is to stay with us. For me, there's nothing there at all."
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The Spaniard also added: "They can play together and that was in my plans. You want to improve the squad and have more quality. We need players who can play together but we need players in the same position who can fight for their places.
Thomas Partey has fallen behind Declan Rice in the pecking order"It's something we haven't had over the last few years and we wanted to improve that and that's why we bought Declan."
Despite Arteta's plans, Partey's minutes have been hampered with the midfielder previously a regular alongside Granit Xhaka at the base of midfield before the Swiss star opted to leave in the summer and return to the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen.
Arteta confirmed this week that the Ghanaian has sustained another injury blow. “Thomas picked up an injury in training yesterday,” he told TNT Sports in the build-up to the match against Sevilla. “We don't know the extent of it. Unfortunately, he's a big miss for us.”