Thomas Partey has withdrawn from the Ghana squad ahead of their AFCON qualification double-header with Sudan.
The Ghana FA said on Monday: “Thomas is unable to join the Black Stars due to medical issues he is currently experiencing, and his club has scheduled him for further tests in the coming days.”
According to Charles Watts, the midfielder is believed to be ill rather than struggling with a knock or muscular problem, so that’s something of a relief.
Partey has been an important member of Mikel Arteta’s side this season anchoring the midfielder in seven Premier League matches and covering at right-back in the most recent win over Southampton. He’s also started twice in the Champions League.
Partey is the second Arsenal player to pull out of international duty. On Sunday, the German FA said Kai Havertz would stay in London to recover from a knee injury. The problem isn’t thought to be serious.
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October Interlull Update*
Selected
David Raya, Spain
Gabriel Magalhaes, Brazil
William Saliba, France
Jakub Kiwior, Poland
Mikel Merino, Spain
Declan Rice, England
Bukayo Saka, England
Riccardo Calafiori, Italy
Gabriel Martinelli, Brazil
Leandro Trossard, Belgium
Ethan Nwaneri, England under-19s
Injured
Oleksandr Zinchenko
Ben White
Kieran Tierney
Jurrien Timber
Martin Odegaard
Tommy Setford
Kai Havertz
Thomas Partey
Not selected
Neto
Raheem Sterling
Gabriel Jesus
Ayden Heaven
Myles Lewis-Skelly
Jorginho
Takehiro Tomiyasu
I wonder why Myles isn’t being selected for the England U19’s? The lad looks class!
Here’s hoping all of our injured players are back and fit after the interlull. Would love to see Tierney get a few more minutes for us in the FA cup game, move Myles into midfield 🙂
I just think Myles and Ethan have completely surpassed that standard. I’m sure it’s more that the England youth coaches are looking for the next MLS. To play for England u19’s would just be a waste of his time.
It’d be like Stephen Fry doing a pub quiz down his local.
Clinical assessment. Only slightly undercut by the fact that Nwaneri is selected for the U-19s
Oops! My bad. Lolz.
Why Tomiyasu not selected? Will Japan win the next WC?
Because he’s not fully fit.
Tbf, I don’t think that has stopped them in the past.
We must be getting better at lobbying to keep and protecting our players behind the scenes
I worry most about Saliba, Rice, and Saka.
Can they not also “have an illness”??
Dark arts to load soon. I hope.
I swear there should be some sort of rule that if a player hasn’t played 50% of club games in the last six months then the club has the right to withdraw them.
Having players like Tomi and Partey and Timber getting involved in international football is just crazy given how precarious their fitness is.
It sounds awful to say it but we pay their transfer fees and their wages. They belong to us. Clubs should have much more power in withdrawing players, especially for meaningless competitions that are created to make more money for the governing body.
I totally get the frustration seeing Arsenal players get injured on international duty, but nothing is forcing the players to play for their countries. They WANT to play for their countries (very understandable, I think). So, you’d be withdrawing players against their wishes, and that’s a kettle of fish I’d rather not make a meal of!
I’m not sure about other federations but if you are called up to play for Spain, then you absolutely must attend (unless duly verified as injured).
If you decide not to turn up, then you risk being suspended and or fined, which is what recently happened to some of the women’s team players.
The situation with the Spanish women was completely different–it was a protest to get rid of the coach and his backer, the loathsome head of the Spanish FA. In general, any player can choose to withdraw from an international game, for example a friendly of a Nations League match. But the national team will likely then refuse to recall him again–and, as pointed out, players almost always want to play for their national teams in big tournaments.
You are missing my point, which is, in Spain at least, if you get called then you must attend.
What has happened in the past is that if a player knows he will be called up (and they usually know in advance) they speak to the coach and explain, in private, why they rather not play for the national team, as was the case with Oleguer Presas.
In most of countries , including Spain I think, you can refuse to join the army, but you HAVE and MUST join the Spanish NT when they call you?
I don’t want to extend this days later, but I think you are mistaken. I was pointing out that the fines/suspensions involving the Spanish women was part of a different issue. The Spanish FA were trying to pressure them to play when they were effectively on strike against the coach. The Spanish FA (and the Spanish coach) can decide not to name Merino to their team, now or in the future, for whatever reason they choose. And he has the absolute right to decline to play for Spain, for whatever reason he chooses.
Considering Odegaard’s situation, I would disagree. Why would you want to risk getting injured with Norway (who have no chance of winning anything) instead of sitting it out so you can play all out for a team that could potentially win a Premier League title?
Internationals are rubbish. More players should be like Ben White.
I don’t think you could persuade saka to pull out of the squad. Maybe we need to organise regular short term luxury kidnappings for him for the interlulls
Rice has decent cover in Merino and Partey both at 8 and 6, even Saliba can be covered to some extent. I would even put Raya ahead of them in terms of lack of decent cover.
Saka on the other hand, his influence in important games and overall output, big problem if he has a long lay off.
I’m 1000% sure that Saka is our best player in a vacuum and criminally underrated, but in terms of the ripple effects on team dynamics, Saliba is the Jenga block whose removal might topple the tower. It’s not just his staggering individual quality but the years of automatisms and defensive understanding he has built especially with Gabriel but with the other guys too. That’s crucial anywhere but especially in the back line. Our defenders see the ball more often than anyone and are responsible for the most impactful decisions, game after game, decisions where small errors have huge consequence: when… Read more »
Mbappe not selected because of an injury but played for his club in the weekend. Hope Arteta and Edu are aware.
Good man!
The Uno gang is expanding
Partey seems to have split the fan base with his performances. I think he’s getting better and better, this season and hope his improvement continues.
Nobody said Partey should be sold without reading the post yet. The mood around the team is pristine. Love it.
I think the key for Partey is the longer run of games he can get, the better he is (like many players). We can certainly withstand an injury to him much better this year, especially once Odegaard returns, and hopefully his playing a more rotational role will help keep him healthy throughout the year.
I really think in the biggest games we will see Rice at the base of midfield with Merino ahead of him, plus Odegaard, once the Spaniard is fully up to speed with the new systems and his new teammates. Odegaard will be the on-ball connector, metronome and primary build up option, Merino the off ball runner/destroyer, box crasher and agent of chaos, and Rice the superman ball winner, passing reference point, ball carrier and long shot threat. Picturing that gives me goosebumps. TP will still get plenty of minutes but at this point in his career he belongs in a… Read more »
Isn’t Tommy Setford now back playing for the U21s?
Mikel is turning into prime Florentino Perez and I love that.
I like how the article pic on this site is chosen to reflect the popular opinion on any story
Now to get every other player, out of these pointless excuses to make money.
Southampton rewatch. I specifically scrutinized Sterling and Jesus’ decision making. It wasn’t bad. They both played some good passes in actions that came to nothing for other reasons. Jesus had a beautiful take from a lofted pass and body fake that left Bednarek for dead and got him booked. He still has that quick lateral shift that makes him deadly 1 v1. His obvious bad moments weren’t that bad, but they came in situations when he had to make quick decisions with the ball, when he received from regains when a counter was on. He hesitated instead of releasing the… Read more »