Atletico Madrid have managed to secure a loan deal with Juventus which will see them rake in a £8.2 Million fee for the season, easing the burden on their finances.
Arsenal have been strongly linked with a move for the Atleti’s Thomas Partey, but have struggled to agree a fee for the Ghanaian enforcer, and the timely boost to their finances is believed to have taken their worries away.
Earlier in the window it was said that the La Liga giants had to sell before they could buy this summer, and Fabrizio Romano (via the Express) now insists that the departure of Alvaro Morata to Turin has taken that stress away.
The transfer specialist has also stated that this deal has enforced the club’s stance on demanding no less than Thomas Partey’s release clause before they will allow the midfielder to leave.
Arsenal have so far struggled to come up with the fee needed to release that clause, and with only two weeks remaining to strike a deal before the transfer window closes, you would assume that we will see the club at least progress in their bid to strengthen the midfield.
As it stands, we have brought in a centre-back (Gabriel Magalhaes) and a forward (Willian), and while our defence was somewhat of an issue last term, our central midfield options was believed to be a stronger issue nonetheless.
Thomas Partey has been the player we were most strongly linked with throughout 2020, while Houssem Aouar has also become a target in recent months, but the club appears to be insistent that we must sell before we can pay the hefty fees for these sort of players, and we could well be forced into considering cheaper alternatives.
Will Arsenal be working on finding more viable alternatives in case they are unable to sell enough of the surplus players, or could the club have been playing hardball in order to try and drive the price down, and end up paying the fee regardless?
Patrick
