Thomas Partey became the most expensive Ghanaian footballer of all time when Arsenal activated his £45 million (€50 million) release clause with Atlético Madrid this summer but a muscle injury is threatening to spoil his debut season in the most watched league in the world.
The 27-year old started life in the England on a brighter note having played 8 minutes against Manchester City (a game his team lost by 1-0), 90 minutes against Leicester City as Arsenal lost again at home to Leicester City and then another 90 minutes of action in the 1-0 away win at Manchester United.
But an injury he suffered at Aston Villa on November 8th, 2020 was the beginning of Partey’s difficulties in England. At Atletico he hardly missed games due to injuries as he had a great health record over there and the more reason why Diego Simeone treated him as one of the important players of his team.
The injury meant that he miss ten Premier league games this season. In all Partey has played 279 minutes of Premier league football since joining Arsenal which represents 18.2 percent of the 17 full games the club has played this season.
The only other game he has appeared was the Europa League game against Rapid Vienna where Arsenal won 2-1 away and Thomas played the full duration.
On Thursday the Ghanaian is expected to be part of Mikel Arteta’s team for the Premier league home clash against Crystal Palace.