Despite missing out on some huge marks, it is clear Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta continues to improve with every campaign at the Emirates. While in recent seasons, his team has missed out on a Champions League spot and then went on to drop the biggest one of all – the EPL title – Gunners fans can take comfort in this consistent improvement in performance.
Aside the rise in position finishes under the Spaniard, it is becoming quite clear Arteta is embracing some of the ruthless traits that have made Pep Guardiola such a serial winner and flat out the greatest coach of all time. Joao Cancelo was one of the best Manchester City players in the final quarter of 2022 but by the time 2023 rolled in, the Portuguese was on his way out of the club.
Arteta has pulled off similar moves as he did away with Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and is about to do same to Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey. Like Aubameyang and Cancelo, Partey starred for a sustained period before falling off and eventually lost his place in the starting unit.
Many forget that there was a time where Partey, Casemiro and Rodri were ranked as the best central midfielders-defensive midfielders in the EPL but unlike Casemiro and Rodri, Partey had a terrible end to the season and got supplanted by Jorginho.
With Kai Havertz on board and the imminent arrival of Declan Rice, the pair, along with with Martin Odegaard, looks like the starting trio in midfield in Arteta’s stoic 4-3-3 system. This unit brings the star power, creativity and goal scoring threat behind a productive front line headlined by Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka.
However, between Rice, Havertz and Odegaard, there isn’t much defensive cover for an Arsenal backline that is encouraged to push high up the field as possible with Oleksandr Zinchenko also dropping into midfield. Elite opposing teams and teams with effective counter attacking game plans can easily overwhelm Rice in the pivot position and run over the Gunners.
Partey is an easy fix here but it is difficult to envisage the former Atletico Madrid playing his way into a prominent role and it isn’t necessarily because he is a bad player; far from that. In fact, despite the downturn in form to close out last season, Partey is still a top quality midfielder who can start for practically any elite team in the world. So with Rice in play, this is why Partey is in the Siberian region of Arsenal’s roster.
Partey’s high salary
Commanding a high wage is a statement and shows how important an individual is to an organization and per Spotrac, Partey was the second highest paid player at Arsenal in the past campaign. Partey netted a gross sum of 10.4 million Pounds annual salary via a 200,000 pound weekly wage, and posting these numbers alongside what is sure to be hefty wages for Rice and Havertz, makes Partey a very expensive substitute.
This situation is tough to fathom considering Partey is very likely to play a reduced role for Arsenal next season and such limited minutes don’t warrant wages of a player who is looking at playing a bit-part role.
Playing limited minutes and contributing just enough quality to make up for the loss of regular starters is the job for Fabio Vieira, Mohammed Elneny, Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith-Rowe. Arsenal of course, can make Partey’s huge salary less of a problem should it successfully move Nelson and Smith-Rowe off its books.
In this instance, Partey and Jorginho can serve as quality backups with the former filling the role of a sub substitute Arsenal needed at several points at the backend of last season when the Gunners excellent run started to slow down.
With fewer bodies battling for midfield minutes and taking more money from the coffers, Partey’s wages become less of an albatross on Arsenal’s ability to continue improving its team.
Partey’s injury woes
Injuries haven’t been kind to Partey, especially since he moved to the Emirates Stadium, and those ailments could ultimately be his undoing. Two opposites can be true at the same time and for Partey, the injury-forced absences hurt but also highlighted his importance to Arsenal as the Gunners were never the same in his absence, especially earlier on last season. Such a situation expedited Arsenal’s pursuit for a replacement and alas, that replacement [Rice] is nigh.
Compared to the best defensive midfielders in the EPL, Partey has played the fewest minutes to those of Declan Rice, Rodri, Casemiro and Bruno Guimaraes. Since joining Arsenal, Partey played the most games ever in his third season in the 2022-2023 campaign as he made 40 appearances in all competitions while playing 2,694 minutes in total.
Rice, on the other hand, played 50 games in all competitions while playing 4,148 minutes and Rodri played 56 games in all competitions while playing 4,476 minutes. Availability played a big part in Rice generating better numbers than Partey. By getting Rice, Arsenal is getting a guy who won the most possessions (334) and made the most interceptions (63) in the Premier League.
His interception rate was seven more than the closest players- Idrissa Gueye and Moises Caicedo. On top of that, he was dribbled past just 20 times all season in the league; this statistic translates to getting dribbled past at a rate of 0.6 times per 90 minutes. This rate ranks higher than Casemiro (2.1), Guimaraes and Rodri both on 0.9 and ahead of Thomas Partey who chalked a rate of 1.0.
Partey’s Age & Background
By signing Havertz [24 years] and being on the brink of signing fellow 24-year-old Rice, Arsenal continues its youth revolution at the club. As a 30-year-old, Partey is an odd fit in the timeline of the Gunners and this is a problem beyond the face value of being an elder statesman in the middle of younglings.
Moving off young players in Reiss Nelson and Smith-Rowe is tough to fathom considering both players are viewed as having more upside, mainly due to their age, than Partey.
Very closely connected to this point is Nelson and Smith-Rowe’s connection to the club with both players graduating from the club’s academy into the main team. Shipping them off rids the club identity somewhat and considering Partey isn’t “one of Arsenal’s own”, it is tough to see the Ghanaian getting the edge over the young duo.
