With Granit Xhaka leaving, one may ask, “What happens to Thomas Partey?” Partey may find himself deputising for Caicedo. Many may want the Arsenal No. 5 to start and the Brighton man to deputise him. But unquestionably, if Arteta wants Caicedo, he sees him as a starter for his project. Partey has done his part in getting Arsenal where they are. Notably, Chris Wheatley notes the 29-year-old is not “untouchable”, as he insinuates Arteta is willing to sanction his sale, a sale to which some Gooners won’t object.
“Well, we’ve spoken a lot about the midfield area; that is certainly an area Arsenal will want to strengthen. The futures of Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka are a little bit uncertain; Xhaka has been linked back to Germany; Partey, his form has been under pressure in the past few weeks; that’s why Jorginho has come in,” Wheatley revealed to the National World YouTube channel.
“A few Arsenal fans have suggested Partey could be on his way out; I’ve not heard that line yet, but he is in his late 20s.
“Arsenal will need to let one midfielder go this summer; it could be Xhaka and it could be Partey.”
With Caicedo and Rice joining, would you, if you were Arteta, sanction Partey’s sale? It may be hard to let him go. But the 29-year-old could bring in millions that could be added to the summer transfer budget.
Considering he’s one of the best DMs on the planet I’d be shocked if we sold him and can’t see it even being a conversation. We need to keep the core of this team together and add quality
Ditto👍
A somewhat over hopeful assumption in this piece that BOTH Rice and Caicado wil come to us this summer
I am bound to point out what I have thought all along, that though MA would like Rice and Rice wants to come, the cost wil almost certainly prevent it happening. SOME club WILL pay around£100,milfor Rice and Brighton have CAICEDO now on a new longer contract and have already declined our offer when he wwas not at that time on the new contact.
Which means that if they wer both to come we would be bound to offer somewhere close to £200mil , which in reality land is NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.
I accept we will bring in SOME fees for our outgoing players, but unlike so many who vastly overestimate their values to other clubs, I suggest way LESS than £100mill in TOTAL will come in.
AND we also need many other positional players of quality,including a top quality central striker, so that “assumption” is EXTREMELY UNLIKELY, imo!
WANTING AND GETTING ALL YOU WANT, SO RARELY BOTH HAPPEN!!
I suspect we want to bring in caicedo *or* rice, if we can get either for a reasonable price (which seems unlikely in both cases now – so it’ll probably be someone else, unfortunately) to replace xhaka.
With jorginho, we have 2 quality and highly experienced DMs, so I don’t think we’ll prioritise that position.
If we were to sign any other midfielders, I’d expect them to be cover for injuries (ideally with potential to take a first team place in the future), and thus on the cheaper side.
Davi, we will need to get another DM in because I can see the headlines next season if things don’t go according to plan, “Arsenal DMs too old”. I’m not sure Partey and Jorginho will be enough. Whether it be Caicedo, Rice or anyone else, it has to be someone who is very good.
Everyone has written off Lakonga but I just didn’t see enough of him to dismiss him as others do.
EvG Ji
I think Kompany is interested in Lokonga as he was coached by him @ Anderlecht and seems a good fit, so I do not think he is going to be with us next season.
For Davi
If we are on a low cost option Lavia @ Southampton is good bet. Also Billy Gilmour @ Brighton is a low cost option capable of doing the job. I hope we do not go abroad as PL settling down period comes into play and we loose a year in the process.
The original question does not make sense to me. What has Xhaka’s departure got to do with Partey’s sale? They are not inter-linked. Just because Partey had a few bad games, it does not make him a bad midfielder. Then by the same logic Saka is not a good forward.
IGL Ji, if Vincent brings Lakonga to Burnley and he flourishes, Arteta is going to look pretty bad.
I remember Arteta discribing him as a very intelligent player who will suit Arsenal, so I was in high anticipation to see him. Don’t think he has had the time or opportunity to prove himself, and it’s been disappointing that he’s not played that much at Palace. It seems like recruitment is so hit and miss these days.
I don’t disagree, EvGunner – I was saying what I think will happen, rather than what I’d want us to do.
I do think lokonga has ability, but sometimes it’s really tough to turn around a bad start, and I don’t think he has the appetite for it. In any case, he really doesn’t look a good fit for the defensive midfielder (Partey) role – I could only see him in a less specialised midfield role, if that makes sense.
Hi Davi, difficult to really know how good (or how bad) Sambi Lakonga is. I know there’s a current trend to get physically imposing midfielders, but do you know he is only an inch shorter than Thomas Partey and two inches taller than Jorginho. This ofcourse doesn’t make him “physically imposing” as physicality is not just about height. I feel they should give him more time by at least letting him play in FA Cup and Carabao. Maybe Arteta just doesn’t rate him now. By the way Caicedo at right back yesterday looked all at sea, which just goes to show that even highly rated players can look very ordinary on any one given day.
Brighton’s last 3 games ?
EVERTON home 1-5 Loss
ARSENAL away 3-0 Win
NEWCASTLE away 1-4 Loss.
What the **** is going on ??
What has Xhaka leaving got to do with Partey?