Ian Wright rates new Arsenal signing Thomas Partey
Ian Wright has his say on Arsenal's signing of Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid this summer
Ian Wright has revealed his delight at seeing Arsenal complete a deal to sign Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid.
The Gunners landed Partey on transfer deadline day earlier this month in a deal believed to be worth around £45m after having been heavily linked with a move to sign him all summer.
Partey, 27, has been getting used to his new surroundings at Arsenal this week and he took part in his first training session with the Gunners on Thursday ahead of the trip to Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday evening.
The Ghana international will be hoping to establish himself as a regular fixture in the Arsenal team in the coming weeks and months as they look to try and challenge for a top-four finish this season.
And former Gunners star Wright has expressed his delight at seeing Arsenal moved to bolster their midfield with the addition of the Ghana star.
Speaking in an interview quoted by Metro, Wright said: “I think when you look at the Thomas Partey signing, it’s the kind of signing where that’s who we wanted.
“We’re not talking about a midfielder where people may feel is just a stopper and a destroyer and then pass the ball to the next man. This guy can progress the ball.
“And the problem that Arsenal have had is that, as well as Dani Ceballos can play on the ball and as well as [Granit] Xhaka produces nice passes, they don’t progress it. And that’s what Thomas Partey will do.
“He’ll get the ball into nice areas, he can run with the ball and pass the ball and hopefully he can activate the right-hand side just as much as Arsenal’s left-hand side.
“What Mikel Arteta wants to do – and, yes, they do play to play counter-attacking because at the end of the day we have to stay deep because we’ve got the pace up front to hurt teams – but now you get a midfielder where we can say: ‘If we win it, we can be a little more constructive’.
“Because you can’t have a player like Aubameyang scoring two goals in one game and then in another game he’s totally isolated.
“So you’ve got a midfielder now who can, alongside someone like Willian and hopefully [Nicolas] Pepe will continue to get better, people who can create further forward up the pitch.”
Arsenal are currently in fourth place in the Premier League table after having won three of their opening four games in the top flight.
They are looking to build on their eighth-placed finish last term as they bid to bring Champions League football back to The Emirates.
Their only dropped points this term came during their 3-1 loss to Liverpool FC at Anfield.
