Paper Talk: Arsenal ready to pay £45m exit clause for Atletico midfield beast

Thomas Partey TEAMtalk

Arsenal are ready to pay £45million to sign a defensive midfielder from Atletico Madrid, while Manchester United have been dealt a striker blow, according to Friday’s Paper Talk.

 

ARSENAL PLOTTING MOVE FOR ATLETICO STAR 

Arsenal are preparing a summer bid for Atletico Madrid’s Thomas Partey, with the Ghana star having a £45m release clause in his contract.

The defensive midfielder was outstanding in the Champions League win over Liverpool in midweek, and the Daily Telegraph reports that the player is high on the list of targets for Mikel Arteta ahead of his first full season as manager.

The 26-year-old has a release clause of around £45million and Atletico are braced for approaches, with the Gunners set to step up their efforts for the player given the relatively low fee for a player of that ability.

Arteta wants a defensive midfielder as one of his priorities as he looks to rebuild after taking over from Unai Emery in December, having failed to be fully convinced by the likes of Granit Xhaka – despite the Swiss star’s upturn in form since the captaincy debacle.

 

 

Partey had loan spells at Mallorca and Almeria before finally making the breakthrough into Atletico’s first team in 2015 and has gone on to make 161 appearances for the club in all competitions, scoring 13 goals.

Meanwhile, Liverpool had a deal in place to sign Partey back in the summer of 2018 before changing their mind late in the day.

 

AND THE REST

Manchester United are confident they can land Jadon Sancho should they qualify for the Champions League next season (Daily Mirror)

Juventus will rival Arsenal and Tottenham for the free signing of Chelsea forward Willian, although the 30-year-old Brazil playmaker would prefer to stay in London (BBC Sport via Sport Witness)

Incoming Chelsea forward Hakim Ziyech hopes to persuade the club to sign Nigeria goalkeeper Andre Onana from his current club Ajax (Daily Mail)

Premier League clubs do not want to release their players for the international break later this month because of coronavirus concerns (Daily Mail)

Tottenham are reportedly interested in Wolves hitman Raul Jimenez ahead of the summer transfer window (ESPN)

Raul Jimenez TEAMtalk

Phil Neville is considering resigning as England Women’s manager after a run of eight defeats in 12 matches (Daily Mail)

Last year’s winners Liverpool are set to lose out on £30m after being dumped out the Champions League at the Last-16 stage (Daily Star)

Arsenal expect their next two matches to be postponed after head coach Mikel Arteta tested positive for coronavirus (Daily Mirror)

Leeds United, Crystal Palace, Watford and Manchester City are all interested in Kingstonian Sam Oguntayo (The Sun)

Manchester United are no closer to securing long-time strike target Paulo Dybala, with the Argentina forward opening contract talks at Juventus with a view to remaining in Turin (Daily Star)

Uefa and the European Clubs Association will propose Euro 2020 be postponed for a year to give European leagues delayed because of coronavirus time to complete their seasons this summer (Daily Mirror)

Vitesse Arnhem are interested in signing Chelsea’s England Under-21 midfielder Conor Gallagher on loan for next season (The Sun)

Sheffield United wing-back Enda Stevens has signed a new long-term deal, which will keep him at Bramall Lane until 2023 (Sky Sports)

QPR are set to sign 21-year-old Danish forward Marco Ramkilde (West London Sport)