Gabby Agbonlahor claims £200k-a-week Arsenal player looked like he got slower last season

Add as preferred source on Google

Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey appeared to get slower as last season played out at the Emirates.

That’s according to pundit Gabby Agbonlahor who was speaking about Arsenal and what they need to do before the start of next season.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will have been encouraging but ultimately disappointed with how last season ended.

His side were leading Manchester City in the Premier League but ran out of steam in the final weeks of the campaign.

Injuries played their part, with William Saliba missing the final portion of the season.

However, Agbonlahor believes that the form of Thomas Partey was also key to their decline.

He thinks Partey got slower as the season went on and Arsenal suffered as a result.

In the end, Jorginho stepped into midfield while the Ghanaian was asked to play at right-back as Arteta rejigged his side to try and turn around their form.

Arsenal star Partey looked slower as season went on

Talking about the end of last season, Agbonlahor said: “I think he is [the difference between Arsenal winning the league].

“Because even though [William] Saliba got injured I felt that they were slacking a bit in midfield.

“Thomas Partey wasn’t playing his best football, it looked like he had lost a yard of pace, getting the ball back, being that sitter.

“Declan Rice just fits into that position, getting on the ball, [Kai] Havertz and [Martin] Odegaard on front of him and maybe Arsenal can bring in another midfielder and play as an eight, even further forward.”

The £200,000-a-week midfielder faces a tough battle to stay in Mikel Arteta’s starting line-up.

Declan Rice looks like a shoo-in to play in the holding midfield role next season which could be bad news for Partey.

The 30-year-old has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia this summer and is not currently on Arsenal’s pre-season tour of the USA.

Arsenal as a team looked slower as the season went on, so it would be unfair to purely criticise Partey for his performances at the tail end of last season.

However, his form did suffer and as a result, Arsenal struggled when he wasn’t at his best.

He still has a role to play at the Emirates, but Arteta might feel like this summer is the right time to cash in.

If he does, it will be interesting to see who Arsenal try to sign as his replacement.