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Arsenal’s new midfielder Thomas Partey could be the move to make them title contenders again, says the man who watched him for the club for six years.
Francis Cagigao left Arsenal in September before Partey’s arrival, and left as head of global exploration by mutual consent after 24 years.
“He is a player that we have pursued for a long time and highly recommended in recent years,” he says of the £ 45m Arsenal midfielder who will make his debut against Manchester City on Saturday.
Arsenal’s head of global exploration, Francis Cagigao, left the club in September after 24 years.
One of Cagigao’s final recommendations was new midfielder Thomas Partey
“I saw him for the first time about six years ago playing with Almería on loan from Atlético de Madrid and he was more from box to box, even attacking.
‘I think we’ll see him without the shackles because he played a lot in a restricted midfield unit [at Atletico].
“He could be the final piece of the puzzle that makes Arsenal challenge for the title.”
He says it with a strong London accent, he went to a school overlooking Stamford Bridge, where he went for the first time to watch football with his Galician father, and with all the passion of an Arsenal fan.
And he also speaks with the authority of whoever played a role at Arsenal signing everyone from ‘Invincible’ Lauren and ‘pioneer’ Cesc Fabregas, to young Brazilians Gabriel Magalhaes and Gabriel Martinelli in the current squad.
Cagigao, the player, was seen as a 16-year-old in the Isthmian League for Wembley FC and spent two seasons at Arsenal, winning the FA Youth Cup in 1988, before signing for Barca B.
Cagigao and his team watched the Atlético Partey midfielder for six years before buying him
Cagigao believes Partey ‘could be the final piece of the puzzle’ to allow Mikel Arteta’s team to fight for the Premier League title
“He was a mediocre professional,” he says of a career that saw him play at Camp Nou when Barcelona’s second team used the first-team arena, and at the Roots Hall on loan from Southend United.
On working experience at Arsenal in the late 1990s, working with their under-16s while taking on their UEFA badges, he was asked by Arsene Wenger to become part of a global network of scouts.
It was a steep learning curve. One of the first missions to Ukraine ended with him trapped in a Kiev airport.
“I was in a restaurant when my credit card, wallet, money and passport were stolen with my jacket,” he recalls.
“ It was a real odyssey trying to get home. In the end I had to spend four days in Ukraine.
Cesc Fabregas was one of the Arsenal stars that Cagigao was able to discover
Fabregas paid tribute to Cagigao when he left his post at Arsenal in September
At one point, I was unable to fly or leave the airport. I was in some kind of no-man’s-land, so I decided to sit on my suitcase singing a song out loud until someone came and asked me what I was doing there.
“I remember waking people up at Arsenal at three in the morning and I told them: listen, you have to get me out of here.”
While still juggling coaching work with the Spanish third division Lemos and looking for Wenger, he saw Lauren playing as a Levante midfielder and recommended him to Arsenal as a right back.
“He had all the qualities of a modern winger,” he says of the recommended position change.
“It was the same years later with Héctor Bellerin, who played on the right wing with Barcelona’s Sub 16”.
The Spaniard worked on agreements to sign Mikel Arteta (left) and Gabriel Martinelli (right) as players
Cagigao says that Arsenal wanted to sign Barcelona players Gerard Piqué (left) and Lionel Messi (right)
Fabregas became the jewel in Arsenal’s crown, having shone in a Barcelona youth team that included two other targets: Lionel Messi and Gerard Piqué.
De Fábregas says: ‘I knew that I was seeing a child who had a GPS in his brain and played with a maturity greater than his age.
“ His decision making was almost perfect already. He was a 15-year-old boy who had to get stronger but already had great stamina.
“He had to add a little more malice in the attacking third and improve defensively, but he had all the basic attributes of an exceptional playmaker.
“I think we can talk about Cesc being a pioneer. This was the first time we saw such a young player come to Arsenal from a great club that showed how strong our scouting department was. And obviously we had the figurehead which was Arsene.
Cagigao worked closely with Arsene Wenger during the Frenchman’s long tenure as coach
Mentions of Wenger dot Cagigao’s memories. And there is great respect for someone who he believes has managed to modernize the club while still honoring its traditions.
Arsène was someone who did not have time, but was dedicated to people.
‘One of the reasons I didn’t leave at the times I could have was the relationship with the manager and with [former chief scout] Steve Rowley, brilliant for the club.
“Regardless of the player we brought to the club, be it a 16-year-old Barcelona player or an established professional, we would sit him in front of Arsene Wenger,” he insisted.
“And if you are investing in young talent, you need a courageous coach who, as he fights for the titles, is prepared to bring those young people on board.”
Wenger’s pull was not enough for Arsenal to take home all of their goals.
“There are players who escape every season and it is public knowledge that Messi, Piqué, Juan Mata and others were very close,” says Cagigao.
“In Messi’s case, the work permits assured us that we couldn’t get as close as we wanted.”
There is a lot of nostalgia in this chat. But ask him what his most satisfying signing is and he comes up with a player who only left the club this summer.
“It took 10 years but in the end we got there,” he says about the capture of Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez now at Aston Villa.
‘I saw him for the first time in Iquique, a small town in Chile at a South American U-17 tournament in 2009.
“The important part of his story is how tenacious and determined he was to show everyone that he is a high-level goalkeeper who has now left a lot of money at the club.”
He is pragmatic about the future of his trade. On the debate between old and new methods, he says: ‘You need to have live exploration, video exploration and data analysis. What are the percentages? That depends on the traditions and culture of each club.
“But we must never lose the essence of the game. Which is certainly not the Peaky Blinders cap, long coat and worn boots, but the need for the technical point of view of a trained, experienced and knowledgeable eye, with a track record. ‘
And someone who works one hundred percent for the club, presumably? “Exactly someone who has no vested interest elsewhere.” It is very important that the clubs control the market; not for the market to control the clubs. ‘
He fits this job description better than anyone after two decades of experience, so why did Arsenal let him go?
His departure coincided, but was not part of the recent round of layoffs from the club that affected the scouting and recruiting department.
‘I reached an agreement with the club. You can’t afford to be bitter because it leads to a very negative process, ”he says.
“I really want Arsenal to do well and I firmly believe that they have, if not the strongest team in the Premier League, there are very few better ones.” And they have a very talented coach. ‘
Gabriel Magalhaes was one of the final transfers that Cagigao was involved in before his departure
That strong team is due in part to him. This season, behind Partey, will be the central Magalhaes, “a team effort,” he says of the defender hired by his department. And there will be minutes for the young forward Martinelli, another diamond mined by Cagigao.
‘If you can sign a player from Ituano in the Brazilian fourth division that tells you that the players are still out; you just have to find them, ”he says.
“Good players are a constant, but it’s a matter of investing and having the right resources and people to find them.”
