Unai Emery was desperate to bring Thomas Partey to Arsenal while he was still manager of the club, claims David Ornstein.
It was a busy summer window for the Gunners where they splashed out a record sum on Nicolas Pepe.
Unfortunately, after spending chunks of cash on William Saliba, Kieran Tierney and David Luiz, Arsenal did not have anything left over to spend on Partey. Emery wanted to bring in the Ateltico Madrid midfielder to reinforce his central lines.
Partey himself was excited to play in the Premier League with his contract carrying a release clause of €50m. Ornstein’s report claims Emery went to scout the player personally in May with the player’s father even admitting that it was time to move on from Atletico.
Rumours of the player wanting an Emirates move emerged much before the summer transfer window. It would have been a spectacular move to see the midfield enforcer setup shop in North London, someone who finally might have been able to replace Granit Xhaka in the starting lineup.
However, it was not meant to be and a future move looks more unlikely now. The Ghana international has racked up 19 appearances already this season and has a contract till June 2023. He is clearly a key figure under Diego Simeone, making it all the more diffcult for Arsenal to pry him away now.
READ MORE: Arsenal Highest Transfer Fees Paid And Received Ever
