Thomas Partey can help Arsenal seal £50m transfer for forward ace who Mikel Arteta loves

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Arsenal’s display against Crystal Palace summed up why they have fallen short of the Premier League title this season.

Mikel Arteta was missing key players as Mikel Merino and Ben White were absent from the squad due to fitness issues and the performance was littered with individual errors.

David Raya was poor in the Arsenal player ratings v Crystal Palace and William Saliba gifted Palace the equaliser as Arsenal squandered yet another lead in the Premier League.

One positive piece of news from the evening was that Thomas Partey’s contract talks have been opened by the club with the desire to extend his stay in North London and that could be good news for more than one reason.

READ MORE: ‘He’s pushing him’ – Theo Walcott delivers stark warning to one Arsenal star over his place in Mikel Arteta’s team

Thomas Partey contract extension gives Arsenal transfer boost

Partey’s contract extension would mean that Arsenal would only have to replace the outgoing Jorginho in the summer for their midfield options and David Ornstein believes Martin Zubimendi is a ‘done deal’.

That would mean that the Gunners have a bigger portion of their transfer budget to spend on forward areas and Arteta has instructed Andrea Berta to sign winger Nico Williams from Athletic Bilbao.

Williams is Arteta’s dream transfer and has a £50m release clause that the Gunners are expected to trigger this summer.

With Partey staying, it allows Berta more flexibility in the transfer market to build a squad finally capable of fighting on all four fronts next season.

Arsenal could sign more than one winger

Whilst enabling Arsenal to finally secure Williams, Partey’s stay at the club could also open up the possibility of adding another winger to the squad with doubts growing over the futures of Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli.

Arsenal have been linked with a host of wingers and are looking for players who can produce those magic moments in front of goal when teams are defending in a low block.

Berta admires Viktor Gyokeres in the pursuit of a centre forward and it is highly likely that the Gunners forward options will look very different come August.

Martin Keown’s verdict on Partey is also a factor in Arsenal extending the contract of the Ghanaian star as he has enjoyed his best season since arriving from Atletico Madrid in 2020.