Mikel Arteta might have ended one star’s Arsenal career as final transfer decision imminent

The grand opening of Atalanta’s stadium, now fully operational for a matchday setting, may well go down as the ironic endpoint for Thomas Partey. One chapter starts for the home of Gian Piero Gasperini’s ever-impressive side, but one accelerates towards a finish for Mikel Arteta.

Given little choice but to select Partey from the off due to injuries for Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino, Arteta went with his strongest-looking side on paper. By 60 minutes he had seemingly had enough.

Not necessarily out of anger or frustration, but Arsenal were hardly clicking. They offered little on the attack and ultimately didn’t manage to get the set-play or counter-attack goal they sought, as had come against Tottenham.

Perhaps sparked by giving away a penalty or just wanting to get things going with some more proven European football quality into the side, Arteta called time on Partey’s evening. Moments after he brought down Ederson, that was it for the former Atletico Madrid man.

staple in the team so far this season – he had played 90 minutes in all four Premier League games leading into the Atalanta meeting – Partey has failed to hit the heights set by his dominant 2022/23 campaign. With just over three months until he can start negotiating a pre-contract with clubs across the continent, this felt like a big incident.

Partey is no longer as needed in the Arsenal squad. Declan Rice is the destroyer – even if he is perhaps more valuable as someone who also breaks in and crashes the box rather than just receiving and giving short passes, guarding the backline defensively – and has more facets to his game than Partey.

Rice does require help behind him to go on the marauding runs but did without Partey for most of last season with fine results. Had Merino not broken his shoulder in the first training session with his new team then Partey’s game time might already have reflected the true nature of his squad role.

The former Atletico Madrid man is no longer vital for Arteta. He is currently occupying a key spot but more due to a lack of alternatives than sheer weight of positive evidence in his favour.

At 31, he is already the second-oldest outfield player at Arsenal. Behind only Jorginho, who was signed on and extended his short-term deal, Partey is an outlier. He was picked up as part of initial Arteta revolution but after four-and-a-half years in north London, the story seems to be coming to an end.

Arsenal have not yet seen him commit to beyond next summer and given his age, form, wages, and the overall squad makeup, why would it be necessary? Partey is now just a body rather than a key figure and he appears to have hit his peak. There is a lot that can be read into one substation, but someone who cannot be relied upon in the league phase of European competition is not someone to be turning to for the future.

If Arsenal have been debating how to act with Partey, and there aren’t noises to suggest that conversations have taken place, then could Arteta’s actions speak louder than anything else? Partey’s Arsenal career cannot end immediately after this, and one poor performance does not define a player, but with time ticking on his contract there is becoming less and less reason to contemplate offering him new terms.

For now, there are still minutes to play, teammates to cover for, and games to win. That doesn’t mean that anyone is planning for beyond the summer, especially not if there is more to Arteta’s move than meets the eye.