Arsenal’s Summer transfer has kicked off with the club announcing the signing of Willian on a free transfer. With hopefully a busy transfer window ahead, Arsenal are looking to add a defender, with Gabriel hopefully imminent and 2 midfielders.
With talk of Dani Ceballos gone quiet, one name that won’t go away is Thomas Partey. Reportedly Arsenal’s first moves for Partey (a straight cash offer and cash plus a player have both been rejected) with Atletico holding out for the Ghanaian midfielders release clause – which is set at £44.8 million.
Partey has yet to put pen to paper on a new deal with At. Madrid and it looks inevitable that he will leave the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.
Ever since Atletico Madrid exited the Champions League, thanks too RB Leipzig, it is hoped that talks to bring Partey to The Emirates can be accelerated and a deal be completed.
What can Partey bring to Arsenal
La Liga – Partey started 29 times, coming off the bench 6 times. Partey attempted 20 shots with 8 of those on target giving him a 40% shooting accuracy. He has scored 3 goals but failed to register an assist. Not known for his creative abilities and we can see why.
But what Partey lacks in creativity, he makes up for it in other areas such as tackling, passing, dribbling or winning duels in the air, he also possesses high percentages in areas you would want your all round midfielder to have. He has a pass completion rate of almost 84%, averaging 47 passes per game.
In the Champions League, the 6ft1″ Ghanaian seemed to see more of the ball, averaging 62 passes, completing 85% of his passes across 8 matches. Partey attempted 12 shots with 2 on target scoring 1 goal. The midfield powerhouse averaged 62 passes per match with a pass completion rate of 85%, and has 1 assist.
One stat I found staggering is Partey’s dribbling ability. The Ghanaian has an impressive dribble success rate of 89%. Now that stat is slightly skewed because he only completes 2.2 dribbles per 90 mins. An impressive stat nonetheless.
Partey is the only midfielder in La Liga this season to play 500+ minutes with a take-on success of 80+%, pass accuracy of 80+%, aerial duels won of 65+% and a total duels won of 60+%.
Partey’s defensive output is not only high volume, but looking at the heat map below, you can see he covers alot of ground, from box to box, to flank to flank. The Ghanaian is also an excellent ball-winner – for a central midfielder that makes 2.49 successful tackles per 90 minutes and is dribbled past just under 1.0 on average per 90 mins.
Thomas is considered to be a crucial cog in Atleti midfield with the Ghanian involved in every passing move, dropping deep becoming a deep-lying midfielder who consistently receives the first pass from his centre-backs.
With him being heavily involved in the build-up of play, he is trusted with helping bring his side further up the pitch and consistently moves the ball forward. This is evident in the metrics below.
I think most people when they hear Thomas Partey, they will automatically think CDM, but looking closer at his stats, we can see that Partey is an all rounder, box to box midfielder. He only got 1 assist this season. Below is how Partey fairs against Arsenal midfielders last season.
Chances Created – Thomas Partey has created 0.8 chances per 90 mins. This puts Partey 3rd in with Ceballos (1.5) and Torreira who is slightly better with 0.9. Arsenal pariah Guendouzi is next with 0.7 and Xhaka closes out the list with 0.6 per 90.
Passing Accuracy – Ceballos tops the list with 88.9%. Partey, however, is bottom of the pile with 83.1%, lower than Torreira (87.9%), Xhaka (88.1%) andGuendouzi (88.2%).
Succesful Dribbles – The Ghanaian has an average of 2.2 successful dribbles per 90, Ceballos next averaging 1.6 per 90, Torreira 1.1, Guendouzi 1.0 and Xhaka 0.9.
Interceptions – Switching to the defensive side of Partey’s stats. Partey’s 1.6 interceptions per 90 minutes is only bettered by Torreira (2.0). Guendouzi is third with 1.5 per 90, followed by Ceballos (1.2) and Xhaka (0.7)
Tackles – Partey averages 2.5 tackles per 90 minutes is bettered only by Ceballos, who averages 2.7 per 90. Torreira is next with 1.9 per 90, closely followed by Xhaka (1.8) and Guendouzi (1.7).
Hopefully we can trigger his release clause as there are reports that Arsenal and Partey have agreed terms on a 4 year deal.
Irish born passionate Arsenal fan all my life. Started supporting The Arsenal because of Dennis Bergkamp. My Dad supports Man City, older brother supports Liverpool and younger brother supports Arsenal so Premier League football is always eventful. Witnessed the Invincibles. Come on you Gunners. Victoria Concordia Crescit.
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