Former Arsenal defender, Nigel Winterburn has weighed in on the debate over which player Mikel Arteta should sign this summer between Houssem Aouar and Thomas Partey.
The Gunners are looking to land a midfielder and both players have been linked with a summer move to the Emirates.
Arteta has been a long-term admirer of Partey, but he also noticed Aouar from his time as Manchester City’s assistant manager.
He is now looking to sign at least one of the duo although much of the recent transfer news has been about a move for Aouar.
Winterburn, however, thinks that the Gunners should sign Partey instead. He claimed that the Ghanaian is “quick, solid and powerful off the ball as much as on it.”
Having watched the midfielder, he claimed that there have been times that Arsenal have been in need of a player like Partey in games situations and he would have helped if he was in the team at that time.
Winterburn said as quoted by Mirror Football: “Thomas Partey and Houssem Aouar are the right sort of names to be linked with Arsenal.
“At times, for long periods, Arsenal have good possession of the ball. But when teams set up defensively, they struggle to break the opponent down.
“Last weekend [in a 2-1 win over West Ham] was actually a poor performance by Arsenal, but I’m happy about the result because last season that would have been a game that Arsenal would have lost.
“I’ve said for the last two seasons, that the Arsenal squad needs to be changed and refreshed. Mikel Arteta has come in, he’s addressed the defensive issues, and by considering Houssem Aouar and Thomas Partey it looks like he’s starting to address the problems in midfield as well.
“Arsenal’s big issue is that they’ve got so many midfield players, they probably need to offload some before they can bring more in. However, players like Thomas Partey and Houssem Aouar are players that I’m pleased to see Arsenal linked with. They are different types of players that can bolster a midfield.
“I really like Partey because he is quick, solid and powerful off the ball as much as on it. There have been times in the past when Arsenal fail to break things down because of the pace of other teams on the counterattack, which is something that Partey could come in to do.
“He takes the ball in tight situations and has the power and the ability to go past the opposing midfield players. Once you start to eliminate in this way, as Partey does, you tend to open space in and around the opposition’s defence. With Arsenal’s pace up front, they can take advantage of this and cause some damage.
“Mikel Arteta is not totally happy with the midfield that he currently has and looks like he wants to change it up.
“As always with Arsenal it takes a long time to get things done. We’re just going to have to again wait and see, but I don’t believe that Arsenal have the money to bring them both in.
“Also, when discussing ideal signings, we forget to consider whether those players want to join Arsenal, and that’s the most important thing. So, we’ve got to wait and see, but my preference of the two would be Thomas Partey.”
