Fabrizio Romano reveals Arsenal star “assessing all options” after club’s change of heart | OneFootball

Fabrizio Romano has confirmed the reports that Arsenal have had a change of heart over key midfield player Thomas Partey.

The Ghana international has been an important player for Mikel Arteta’s side in recent times, but many will have expected him to be leaving at the end of his contract this summer.

Partey’s age and injury record made him an obvious candidate for the exit door, but he’s had a really strong season this term and has done better to stay fit.

According to Romano, this now means Arsenal want to keep Partey and are working on a new deal for the 31-year-old, who is also assessing all the options available to him…

Partey could surely have a lot of clubs interested in him this summer, and it seems he might need to accept a different salary structure if he stays at the Emirates Stadium.

While it’s not made explicitly clear in Romano’s X post above, this surely means the Gunners are trying to convince the Atletico Madrid man to take a pay cut.

This would make sense for an ageing and injury-prone player, but we’ll have to wait and see if further details emerge soon.

Arsenal looking to strengthen midfield, but Thomas Partey still has a role to play

Partey is a fine talent who would be hard to replace, so it makes sense for Arsenal to try to keep hold of him for a bit longer.

Thomas Partey in action for Arsenal (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Even if Martin Zubimendi is expected to join AFC this summer, there’s still the likely departure of Jorginho coming up in the months ahead.

Arsenal would likely be short of depth in the middle of the park if both Partey and Jorginho left at the same time, and only Zubimendi came in as a replacement.

If a short-term deal on more realistic wages is possible, then keeping Partey seems like a no-brainer for Arsenal.