Why Atletico have no right to be angry over Thomas Partey Arsenal move

Several reports have confirmed that Atletico Madrid are furious with Arsenal over the deadline transfer of Ghanaian midfielder Thomas Partey.

The Spanish outfit is said to be annoyed at how their English outfit countpart went about with the signing of the 27-year-old midfielder.

It is no more news that Thomas Partey has joined Arsenal after the FA Cup holders activated his £45m release clause just two hours to transfer deadline.

Both clubs have been on the negotiation table for months over how they would agree for a fee with no success with Atletico Madrid referring Arsenal to his relase clause.

In fact, Arsenal offered Atletico Madrid a player plus cash option but the bids were turned down as they insisted only on their release clause.

Then boom, Arsenal activated the clause with just two hours to the end of the transfer window by submitting the offer to La Liga.

This move reportedly irked Atletico who claimed the were no gentlemen handshakes between the clubs and that the move left them helpless.

But realistically should Arsenal or Thomas Partey be blamed for the move?.

Atletico Madrid knew they had lost the Ghanian because the negotiations for a new contract with him had broken down a long time ago.

Atletico offered 3.5m euros net per year before the coronavirus pandemic, but that was rejected. And after football resumed the message from the club was that they could not afford even that.

The fact is that Partey felt he had been badly treated by Atletico. He was the worst-paid player in the squad, with a modest 1.8m euros net per year, and he felt he deserved more, considering that by the summer he had played at least 42 games over the previous three seasons.

Atletico are, in reality, more upset with him than they are with Arsenal.

The allegedly “irreparable” relationship with the English club will be forgotten once new business has to be done between the two parties.

But Atletico feel that after nine years in Madrid, five in the first team, it was unacceptable for Partey to arrange a medical in Madrid without telling his club and, basically, to leave without a proper send-off.

The player was advised that his departure was not going to be followed by a homage, so he resolved to do everything quietly. Plus, Atletico got 50m euros, which is more than welcome in a time of huge difficulties for them.

A player of Thomas Partey quality deserves to be well paid and respected, guess Atlético Madrid loss just Arsenal’s gain.