PARTEY OVER? Arsenal ready to listen to offers for Thomas Partey as £45m perfect Replacement agreed personal terms

transfer closes in on a YEAR out injured
Arsenal’s key player last season is out of contract in 2025

ARSENAL are ready to listen to offers for the injury-prone Thomas Partey in January.

The defensive midfielder, 30, is in his fourth season with the Gunners following a £45million move from Atletico Madrid.

Advertisement
Thomas Partey is set to leave Arsenal in January
1
Thomas Partey is set to leave Arsenal in JanuaryCredit: Alamy
The 30-year-old Ghana international is likely to be ruled out of action for the rest of the year after suffering a thigh problem in training last week.

And his latest spell on the sidelines has accelerated plans to cash in on a player who has now missed 57 games and been unavailable for 296 days.

Partey is one of Arsenal’s highest paid players on £200,000-a-week and has a contract which runs to 2025.

He was one of Mikel Arteta’s first major signings for the club but has rarely been available for consistent selection due to a long-running series of muscular injuries.

TAKING THE MIK Arteta takes sly dig at Spurs rival Postecoglou as fans hail ‘peak Prem’

FLYING FORTY Get £40 in free accumulator bets when you stake £10 with Sky Bet
One of the reasons Arsenal broke the bank for £105m club record signing Declan Rice last summer was because Arteta felt he could no longer rely on Partey’s availability.

Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Sevilla will be the 11th game which Partey has missed this season and Arteta has admitted that his constant absences are: “A big concern.”

Even if the player can achieve his target of a New Year’s comeback, he is due to head to the Ivory Coast for the Africa Cup of Nations in January.

And that has persuaded the club to cash in during the next transfer window after initially planning to look for a buyer next summer.

Arsenal may look to replace injury-prone midfielder Thomas Partey in the January transfer window, but this may be easier said than done.

Despite his injury problems, Partey is a top-class midfielder when fit, and could help solve Arsenal’s issues in the middle of the park this season.

However, recent reports have indicated that Partey wants to leave, and he may depart in January as he is expected to be unavailable until February anyway.

Andre of Fluminense has been linked, but another target has now emerged in Youssouf Fofana from Monaco.

Arsenal interested in Youssouf Fofana
A report from 90min has now claimed that Arsenal are eyeing up the 24-year-old as a long-term replacement for Partey, having been linked with him before.

Fofana is out of contract at the end of the season but Monaco are set to activate an automatic one-year extension, whilst Liverpool and Newcastle are also keen on the defensive midfielder.

Arsenal want a natural number six to help replace the ageing Partey and Jorginho, and Fofana may be seen as someone who can add quality to the position alongside Declan Rice.

The Gunners were linked with Fofana as an alternative to Rice in the summer, and he had a £30m price tag back then, with it unclear how much this will now change based on the interest in him.