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Thomas Partey was the “number one” signing in the summer transfer window, says Paul Merson, who “can’t believe” Arsenal managed to sign the midfielder.
Partey recovered the ball more than anyone on the pitch in Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday, their first win against a ‘Big Six’ rival in 29 games, with Sky sports Expert and former England midfielder Jamie Redknapp called the 27-year-old “a midfielder who can do anything,” while Roy Keane compared him to Gunners legend Patrick Vieira.
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Merson, who played alongside Vieira in the final year of his career at Highbury in 1996/97, highlighted the difference the Ghana international has already made at his new club, after arriving from Atlético de Madrid last month on the day. transfer limit.
“It was a good home performance, it wasn’t great, I wouldn’t get carried away and say oh my gosh, it’s a turning point,” he said. “They beat a terribly, terribly poor Manchester United that day. They’ve done a job, we’ve seen them lose those games in the last five or six years. But I think Partey is a big difference, what a signing.
“When it comes to summer transfers, he has to be number one. I can’t believe, without being horrible here, that Arsenal caught him. I’m not saying it in a horrible way, everyone is crying out for it.” – I know Manchester United is very heavy and has Fred, McTominay and Matic, but they don’t have a Partey.
“Manchester City too, Fernandinho is nearing the end, Rodri hasn’t really uprooted any trees. You’re thinking wow, who didn’t see this?
“When you talk about retaining midfielders and you want discipline, there is no better place for discipline than Atlético de Madrid. They play in the most disciplined way. They can go away and be quiet, then other days they can go attack the teams. is a big part of that.
“Fair play for Arsenal, now you have to wait for them to go and kick. They’ve been unlucky, they probably shouldn’t have been beaten by Leicester, at Manchester City they needed to score when they had a couple of chances.” So for me they are not a million miles from a very open league, but they have to keep going.
“There’s no point being beaten by Aston Villa next week. You have to go back to back. I said the other day, can I see Arsenal winning seven or eight in a row? No, I can’t. But they need to start putting four together and five wins and if they can do it, who knows. “
‘Lost trick’ in the Partey-Ozil combination
Arsenal have left midfielder Mesut Ozil, once the club’s most expensive signing, out of their Premier League and Europa League teams, meaning the World Cup winner can only participate in the Carabao Cup before for the national registration window to reopen in the new year.
He hasn’t played a single minute of Premier League football since the Gunners’ 1-0 win over West Ham on March 7, but Merson feels that the arrival of Partey could have made it easier to help the German, whose career in the Arsenal have often proven to be stop-start. get back to your best level.
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“I think there was a stage for Ozil now Partey in the team,” he said. “I saw Chelsea play Burnley, they played a back four, they played N’Golo Kante in front of the back four, and they let everyone else carry on. They tore Burnley to pieces, I haven’t seen too many teams make Burnley go look very normal.
Because Kante was playing in that holding role, he gave Kai Havertz and Mason Mount the freedom to do whatever they wanted, they didn’t have to spend most of their time on the edge of their own box crawling backwards. Part and there now that he’s so dominant there and doesn’t lose the ball, I think there was now a place for Ozil.
“So if they drop someone to pick up Ozil, you have someone like Partey who is very comfortable with the ball and can hurt you. So that frees up a midfielder. I think he’s missing a trick here, but that’s just me. .
“It is so good that I think it would have opened a space for Ozil. But it is not for a single reason, and it is because he does not run. Why did they beat Manchester United on Sunday? Because he does not run.”
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