A round-up of the latest Arsenal news as Mikel Arteta admits that Thomas Partey has suffered an injury setback and is already looking toward the summer transfer market.
Arsenal plan to replace Aaron Ramsdale in the summer transfer sales
Plans are already emerging at Arsenal for Arteta to replace Aaron Ramsdale in the summer transfer window. The winter market only slammed shut on Thursday but football.london is reporting that the Gunners want to have a contingency plan to sign a new No2 goalkeeper.
Arsenal will activate their £27m option to buy David Raya from Brentford at the end of this season. But the Spaniard’s permanent switch continues the question marks that surround Ramsdale. He has only featured in one Premier League fixture since the September break.
Arteta further only recalled Ramsdale against Brentford with Raya ineligible to play against his parent club. But Arsenal froze the England international out of a January transfer with a £50m asking price, per talkSPORT. They refused to sell cheaply amid interest from Chelsea.
Read more about Arsenal’s plans to replace Ramsdale in the summer window, here.
Mikel Arteta confirms Thomas Partey has suffered an injury setback
Arsenal will be without Partey when Liverpool visit Emirates Stadium on Sunday after Arteta revealed he has suffered a setback in his recovery from injury. The midfielder has developed another issue in a similar area to the problem which has sidelined Partey out since October.
Partey suffered his thigh injury during training ahead of their trip to Sevilla in the Champions League. Arsenal would also send the Ghanaian for surgery in November in the hopes of him returning in January. But a fresh setback will see the 30-year-old spend yet further time out.
“Unfortunately, we had a little setback a few days ago,” Arteta noted in his press conference on Friday, via quotes by football.london. “He’s not going to be available in the squad.
“We’ll see if it’s a matter of days or weeks. But he had a little thing. I’m not a doctor but he felt something in a very similar area and he wasn’t able to train the last few days.”
Partey has only featured in four Premier League matches so far this season having also had a groin injury. He started the term as a makeshift right-back before suffering an injury at home to Fulham back in August. Partey would only return for 15 minutes against Manchester City.
Read more about what Arsenal boss Arteta has had to say about Partey’s injury, here.
Yunus Musah explains his decision to leave Arsenal
Yunus Musah now admits he ‘did not feel good’ about the offer Arsenal made before the 21-year-old joined Valencia in 2019. He quit the Gunners to join Los Ches in search of a quicker route to first-team football. Now, the USMNT international is plying his trade with AC Milan.
The midfielder joined Arsenal’s academy when he was nine after first showing promise while living in the northern Italian town of Castelfranco Veneto. But Musah would never feature in a senior team at Emirates Stadium and he left for Valencia when offered a professional deal.
Musah did not appreciate the terms that Arsenal put forward when Valencia were prepared to provide an expedited route to the first-team. The New York native eventually broke into the Spanish giant’s senior side in September 2020. He debuted at 17 years and nine months.
The long-time England youth international remained an important first-team player with the Mestalla outfit from his debut until his exit last August. He made a total of 108 appearances for five goals and three assists, justifying Musah’s decision to quit Arsenal and join Valencia.
“I felt like at the time I could make that step to become a first-team player soon,” Musah has told the Daily Mail. “But it would have taken more time to do it if I was at Arsenal. Valencia believed that I could make that step earlier, like I believed, as well.
“So, that was the decision. I didn’t quite feel good about the offer that Arsenal made. So, I went to Valencia where I felt like I could get to the first-team quicker.”
Read more about what Musah has had to say about leaving Arsenal for Valencia, here.
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