Arsenal now U-turn on allowing ‘fantastic’ £45m player to leave after ‘surprise interest’

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Arsenal were going to allow one of their players to leave this summer but it seems that they have now changed their minds.

According to The Express, Arsenal now have no plans to offload defensive midfielder Thomas Partey this transfer window.

The report goes on to say that they were willing to allow the player to leave earlier in the window. Despite ‘surprise interest’ and an enquiry from Fenerbache, Mikel Arteta now wants to keep Partey.

This makes sense that the Gunners have made a U-turn on the future of Partey. The window shuts at the end of August and the Premier League season has already got underway.

Arsenal will now not allow Partey to leave

The defensive midfielder has had some “fantastic“ moments for Arsenal but started to lose his place in the team towards the end of last season.

Last weekend in their first game of the Premier League, we saw Partey back into the starting eleven. This time, he was being played as a right-back.

Tactically in this match, we saw the £45m midfielder in that defensive slot but constantly coming in as an inverted central midfielder.

If he is being played in the Premier League in their first game of the new season, then he is arguably someone that Arteta sees as an important player.

It is important that the manager feels like he has a good 25-man squad, not just a starting eleven, as they try to battle for the title.

They will want to lift another trophy this season alongside the Community Shield and if they want to compete well in all competitions they need good strength in depth.