Villarreal Head Coach, Marcelino, has criticized Thomas Partey over his performances for the club since joining from English Premier League side Arsenal. [Scroll down to watch video]
The Black Stars deputy captain returned to Spain to join Villarreal at the start of the 2025-2026 season as a free agent following a five year run with Arsenal.
His time in London came to a controversial end as the Ghanaian international got implicated in legal issues that had him charged on multiple counts of rape and a sexual assault on a female individual.
However, Partey’s time at Villarreal has been dominated by limited game time as the 32 year old has played just 1068 minutes (17.8 hours) in 21 games in all competitions including playing 45 minutes in Villarreal’s 3-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League.
Villarreal ended the group stages next to the bottom spot in the standings and in his post-game presser after losing to Bayer Leverkusen, Marcelino was critical of Partey.
“Thomas [Partey], I think there’s a world of difference between the Thomas we know at Arsenal and this one. A world of difference. It’s very difficult to play at this pace in today’s football.”
“So, I think it’s been six months now, and that’s enough time for this player to show us what he was capable of, or what he’s showing us now.”
“There is a world of difference between the Thomas we knew at Arsenal and this one. A world of difference. It’s very difficult to play at this pace in today’s football.”- Villarreal boss criticises Thomas Partey🇬🇭after Champions League defeat.😭
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— Citi Sports (@CitiSportsGHA) January 29, 2026
