Thomas Partey will wear a different shirt number at Arsenal next season and the Gunners will hope he will hit top form and show why they spent so much to sign him.
The Ghanaian wore the number 18 shirt last season, but he is now expected to switch to the number 5 shirt, which he claims is his lucky number.
Partey showed what he can do with some fine performances last season, but he wasn’t consistent enough, no thanks to the many injuries he had.
The midfielder was one of the best in Europe when he played for Atletico Madrid and he would now hope to show his best skills for the Gunners next season.
The club knows that they have to give him everything he needs to succeed at the Emirates and they have now agreed to allow him to switch numbers.
The likes of Steve Bould, Kolo Toure and Thomas Vermaelen have worn the number 5 previously at Arsenal.
The last player to wear the number was Greek defender, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, who spent two-and-half years at the Emirates.
Thomas said to the club’s website: “I like the No 5 because it’s one of the most important numbers in the team and it is also a lucky number for me. It’s the number I’ve worn for the past few years, so for me it’s one of the best numbers.”
Fantastic news!
I like Partey and hope he can really find his feet next season. He seems like the kind of player that will really excel with a more sorted team around him.
Party is just a green horn in Arsenal by next season he will bite like snake in his role.
Best thing for Thomas Partey and the team will be to give him a good DM to play along side, so that he can concentrate on the box to box role turning defense to attack.
@Ozziegunner!!
I wonder how we see and analyse football, on this site!!
Guess that’s why we are different!!
Thomas Partey is a DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER!!
We bought him to play as a DM, like a Gilberto Silva or Francis Coquelin..
I wonder where all this Box to Box Talk is coming from..
We need a mobile central midfielder to complement him..
Like Bissouma, Lokonga or Renato Sanchez..
Y’all should stop clamouring for a DM😏😏. Partey is one, already!! Same as Mohammed Elneny!!
I see it that way too OzzieG, Partey is our new Vieira and a DM is needed to allow him to break forward more often.
I hope Partey isn’t a defensive midfielder as from what I have seen so far I don’t think I saw much to indicate that he has a disciplined defending mindset
To be fair though this is a bit of blind spot for me as I have been watching Xhaka for 5 years or so and still don’t know what type of midfielder he is!
I also hope that Partey is not our new Vieira, in the current game, backed up by VAR, Paddy’s style of play would see him sent off even more than he was then, but I know what you mean Declan
I think Petit was more of the holding midfielder in Wenger’s early days but he used to get forward as well knowing that Vieira would cover, they worked well in tandem but in the main they protected our back 4 between them, as things progressed the team became so good it didn’t need that same approach but Gilberto is certainly somebody I would like to see someone now become our “new”