Aubameyang names the Arsenal star who improves all ‘players around him’ | OneFootball

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has claimed that Thomas Partey improves all the players around him, as the midfielder nears his return for Arsenal.

The Ghanaian enforcer joined the club on Deadline day in October, but his career with the North London club has been knocked off course thanks to injuries.

Partey suffered a thigh injury in the first-half of the clash with Aston Villa, only his fourth Premier League appearance, and was ruled out for around a month before returning against Tottenham. The midfielder could only manage 45 minutes against Spurs also after hurting himself in a similar area, and you can’t blame our backroom staff for being overly cautious in throwing him back into the first-team this time around.

Partey has been back in full training since the turn of the year, but we keep being told that he needs further assessment before he will be made available, and we await news on his inclusion today also.

Team-mate Aubameyang is eager to see him play however, and has moved to claim that his inclusion will bring the better out of his side.

Aubameyang told SunSport: “It’s incredible that we are in January and Thomas has played so few games for us so we haven’t really seen the impact that he can have on our team.

“Obviously we’ve missed him because his presence brings something different to the side.

“It’s just not about his talent or his physicality, it’s who he is a person. He makes the players around him better and that’s a big quality.

“It’s been a difficult few months for him because he knows how much he can help the team and feels a big responsibility that he hasn’t been able to do that yet.

“He’s so willing and keen to be part of things but he’s had to deal with the injuries, with the lockdown and moving to a new country.

“He wanted to do everything straight away and maybe he was rushing too much because he didn’t want to be alone at home.

“But now he’s in a really good place, he’s settled in with the dressing room and the staff and hopefully now we can see his special character on the pitch.”

Will Partey need time to settle back in after so little football?

Patrick