Arsenal have pulled out of their long-standing pursuit of Thomas Partey, with Atletico Madrid refusing to discuss any transfer for less than his release clause.
The Gunners have been linked with the 27 year-old throughout the current season, with him enjoying a thoroughly impressive Champions League campaign including putting Premier League champions Liverpool to the sword, and the player himself had refused to pour cold water on the speculation.
Sport.es now insists that we have withdrawn from our pursuit of the Ghanaian midfielder, with widespread reports that his current club are unwilling to accept anything other than his release clause of €50 Million paid in full.
This comes a day after we at JustArsenal claimed that Amadou Diawara, who the Express report is being made available by Roma, could well be a more viable alternative due to his asking price of £27 Million, which may or may not be the new plan.
We do appear to have succeeded in our chase to sign Gabriel Magalhaes from Lille this summer however, despite strong interest from both Napoli and Manchester United, with the defender expected to be announced as joining the club any day now.
Our club is believed to be keen on adding at least one central midfielder to our current crop going into the new season, with questions having been raised of our options for the previous term, as well as the fact that Dani Ceballos has returned to his parent club having completed his loan deal.
I personally struggle to believe that we would have completely pulled out of the race to sign Partey unless we had made advances in signing an alternative option, although it could well be that we are playing hardball following their stubborn stance on his future.
How many central additions are needed before we can be happy with our options?
Patrick
