Spanish football expert, Graham Hunter, has given Arsenal a boost in their bid to land Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid in the summer as he claims that financial pressures could force Atletico Madrid to cash in on the Ghanaian.
Partey has been one of Arsenal’s major transfer targets ahead of the next transfer window.
However, the Gunners have been priced out of a move for him as his release clause is reportedly set at just under £50 million.
With the coronavirus hitting clubs hard, Atletico Madrid is set to be one of the teams that may suffer the most and that could be a good thing for Arsenal.
The Spaniards have just moved into a new stadium and they only recently signed Joao Felix for over £100 million.
They also have the highest-paid manager in the world and all this could see them look to sell some of their players and Partey could be among them.
“Nobody knows how much clubs are going to lose financially in the current climate,” Hunter said to Sky Sports.
“Atleti will have received a tremendous amount of money from a quite brilliant Champions League campaign but that has been curtailed. They would have expected to be playing in a Champions League semi-final match this week, and they’d have been paid more money by UEFA.
“I believe they’re close to €70m ahead financially because of their participation and success in the Champions League this season due to the new funding structure which is so extraordinary.
“But their debt probably does mean a few clubs are going to be more fortunate going to Atleti and asking about some of their players than they would have been in other situations.”
36m a year for Simeone… wow…..