Thomas Partey passed through Leganes before signing for Atletico Madrid. “Atletico Madrid wanted to sign me, but first of all, I had to go to Leganes because Atletico couldn’t sign me directly as I didn’t have a contract in Ghana. So that was short term, as a big favour from them to process my papers, then I could go to Atletico on a trial loan. That went very well, and then they signed me,” disclosed Partey.
Thomas Partey joined Atletico Madrid in 2013 as he enjoyed loan spells with Real Mallorca and UD Almeria before breaking into Atletico Madrid’s first team in the 2015/16 season. Thomas Partey shared the same dressing room with Radamel Falcao, Diego Costa, Antoine Griezzman, Diego Godin, Jan Oblak, Koke, Saul, and Carrasco among many other world-class players in Atletico Madrid. The midfielder has revealed that Falcao and Diego Costa were sources of motivation for him when he arrived at Atletico Madrid as a young player.
“I remember when I arrived they had players like Falcao and Diego Costa who I had watched on TV. That was the motivation for me. I knew it was a big chance for me on a big team, so I put everything else behind me. I missed my family a lot, but I was able to control my mind to focus on staying at Atletico and doing well. We had a few other African players at the time, or French African, who were my friends, but to be honest I was close with most of the players. I learnt a bit of English, and could interact with my teammates.”
Thomas Partey disclosed in the interview how he missed his family in his early years in Europe but stayed focused because he was on a mission to play and succeed in Europe.
The Ghanaian enjoyed a wonderful 6 years of active football for Diego Simeone’s ATM before joining Arsenal as he made 132 appearances and scored 12 goals for Atletico Madrid. Party won Laliga, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Super Cup with Atletico Madridd. He was part of Simeon’s squad that lost on penalties in the 2015-16 UCL finals against Real Madrid after coming on in the second half of the extra time.
