Mikel Arteta says the £50 million paid by Arsenal for Thomas Partey layers “a bit of pressure” on the player at a time when fitness problems are hampering the midfielder’s ability to make an impact at the Emirates.
After five consecutive starts in the Premier League, the Ghana international suffered a hamstring strain in the closing stages against Aston Villa last weekend and has now been ruled out of Sunday’s clash with Leeds.
The boss revealed on Friday morning that the 27-year-old is ‘devastated’ by the news – a hint that he could miss further games – but says the club must now protect him so that he makes a full recovery.
Partey has already missed a six-week chunk of the season due to a persistent thigh problem which resulted in him sitting out 13 matches on either side of a failed comeback against Spurs in December.
“Hopefully, we can still see Thomas back and playing at the level he can do,” said Arteta in his weekly press conference.
“Last time, the second injury, we gave him more time to recover. He came back in good shape but he wasn’t fit enough to sustain that for 90 minutes and that’s why we kept subbing him and trying to protect him.
“I think he’s played 90 minutes only once see he came back from injury. Now, again, we have to protect him, make sure he’s fit and ready to come back. As soon as possible, but knowing we need the player long-term as well.”
Having had an exemplary fitness record during five years at Atletico Madrid, Partey’s injury struggles in London are as concerning as they are surprising.
Asked if getting used to English football is as much a mental undertaking as it is physical, the boss responded, “Probably it’s a mixture, also how much he wants to have an impact on the team.
“He knows how much he costs and that adds a bit of pressure. When you’re not able to play, you want to hurry up and do everything quicker and show everybody how good you are and have a big impact on the team, that creates some anxiety, for sure.
“Then the physical aspect, when you look at the output he needs to put in when he was playing in Spain compared to now, it’s pretty different.”
While Partey and left-back Kieran Tierney are the only players officially listed as injured, the boss says the unrelenting nature of this season, coming off the back of a hectic conclusion to the 2019/20 campaign and a token pre-season, is taking a toll on his squad.
Not for the first time, he lamented the Premier League’s failure to reach a consensus on the allowance of five substitutions per game. On three separate occasions, the motion failed after smaller clubs expressed concern that it handed too much of an advantage to clubs with deeper squads. Arteta feels the decision has come at the expense of player welfare.
“We talked about it [player welfare] at the start of the season and one of the things we could do was the five substitutions to give you the ability to change some players during the course of the game.
“When you get into the last 10 minutes you know the players are suffering, they are playing so many minutes and you’re thinking, I have four or five players here who might not finish the 90 minutes.
“There’s a big risk every game and we don’t have the possibility to do that right now. We talked about it, we knew that this year was going to be so difficult with the lack of preparation and the amount of games we have to play, but it is what it is.
“It was [frustrating] but we all have to agree and we didn’t. Some will say it’s the right decision and some others will say it would have been helpful if we could have done it.
“The reality is, we didn’t and we accept these are the rules from now until the end of the season and we have to play with those rules.”
Rushing him back against spurs was really reckless, and we’re paying the price now. The season, a bit like the world, is a bit tit over arse right now
Aren’t tits always over arses?
Raising a glass to the old order.
Not when doing a hand stand.
You know, if a guy as obviously athletic as Partey coming from a system like Atletico’s (who don’t suffer slouches) struggles to cope with the physical demands here…. I’d like someone to take a closer look at some of the ‘medical’ practices around the league.
I know we’d all like to believe this is part of the eliteness of the EPL, but something stinks.
Is that why Eden hazard has had more injuries than minutes since he went to la liga from the prem?
Hazard’s case is likely the weather, if, like how English players used to fall like flies during hotter world cups.
Possibly. Arsenal had well reported problems with players recovery from injury/rehabilitation in the Wenger era and a deal of time and money was spent in those latter years to try and correct things. We don’t know if there are still problems in that area now, I hope not.
dumbest comment of the week
I’m fucking anxious for him to show how good he is. Toughen up boy. Lace ’em up and get out and play!!!!
I can understand the pressure on Partey and agree that the players are under a lot of pressure in the EPL. However, I think the number of games argument is bollocks. There are no more games this season than last season. For the Gunners there’s no FA Cup or League Cup. So it’s a lighter load than last season in that respect, admittedly they had a huge mid-season break.
I suspect Partey is suffering from a problem that Pepe has – the size of the transfer fee when balanced against injury (in Partey’s case) and under-performance (in Pepe’s case). Between them, they have cost the club around £125 million so that’s bound to put the pressure on – or add considerably to it – when things are not going well for whatever reason. In Pepe’s case, he looks to be turning in more consistent performances, although I doubt we’ll ever get to see a £70+ million player. With Partey it’s not down to him so all we can do… Read more »
What does the size of the transfer fee have to do with Partey being injured?
The added weight of the transfer fee causes additional strain to the muscles and joints.
nothing this tool just likes to talk about finance every post he makes
No, that’s not true but in this case it’s the point that MA is making in a quote at the beginning of the article, which you don’t seem to have read given your post. Looks like you’re more “the tool” here, I think. Better to read first, comment after.
Ive read it its just arteta talking rubbish again. as if his transfer fee is going to make him rush back from injury, he is an experienced player. The size of his transfer fee has zero to do with him being injured.
and i dunno what any of it has to do with pepe just you droning on about transfer fees and finance as usual
What’s with the pile on? A guy posts a well written comment, and a load of dummies give it the thumbs down and insult him. What a strange comment section Arseblog news provides…
Try reading the article and it will stop you making silly comments:
“Mikel Arteta says the £50 million paid by Arsenal for Thomas Partey layers “a bit of pressure” on the player at a time when fitness problems are hampering the midfielder’s ability to make an impact at the Emirates.”
That is the point that I was making – the additional pressure on Partey due to his transfer fee. Get it now?
How can you say it’s the same problem then say it’s different? That doesn’t make sense.
No, I’m saying that the transfer fee in both cases is adding to the different problems with both players. A common link is the fee, although the problems that it’s adding to (as MA says in the article about Partey) is different – injury in one player, under-performance in another. It’s not contradictory if you think about it.
He is the new Abu Diaby.
This squad/team reminds me of a fantasy football team. From having such a bloated squad in the summer to being short in key positions now. I keep wondering what if there wasn’t a fallout with guenduzi and Arteta. Maybe I’m looking through rose tinted glasses but I would of thought guenduzi would of been a good back up or partner for party.
We have so many players on our books that go from looking fantastic to way below average I.e Pepe, ceballos, torera, guenduzi, Willock, Nelson, etc, etc
I never rated Guendouzi and still wouldn’t want him back now.
Guendouzi needs to grow up, he’s immature and he has a mouth on him. Saliba might be similar in that way, I believe this is why these guys were loaned.
Yes, you may have a point there but I don’t think there’s much chance of seeing Guendouzi back at The Emirates at least with MA as manager. You mentioned Ceballos. The majority of Gooners on this site thought his loan signing was great at the time (many before he even kicked a ball, although that’s not unusual), but he’s not popular now. Is that the tactics, the manager, the player, the PL way of playing? It could be a combination of everything I guess and that goes for the others you mention. I think the answer is we just have… Read more »
Thomas, at 27, has roughly four years left at peak performance. Why risk that by playing him in what are now deadwood Prem matches. Let him strengthen his body, get him fit for consistent Premier League competition. When fully fit, limit his play to the important Europa League ties and basically put him through strength and fitness regimen for the rest of the season in preparation for next year.
Why you ask? Because we are Arsenal.
The Premier League is still of major significance and we must finish as high as possible.
Both of you are right, the games are important particularly when we were fighting relegation a time back. But not preparing him properly when it’s a new division and a new land. We’re mid table so the need was not dire to throw him in again ..like if we were in a tight battle for a CL place or in a semi final game then I’d get it. So I think neither of you are wrong
It’s a fact 5 subs gives bigger teams an advantage so the main issue is all clubs are happy to receive TV package money but not schedules. We know you know better Sir 😜