Thomas Partey has been listed in Ghana’s preliminary squad ahead of next month’s Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
The 30-year-old midfielder was undoubtedly one of Mikel Arteta’s most important players last season and was expected to have a similar impact this season.
Fans were fawning over the possibility of having both Partey and Declan Rice in the same midfield but five months in we are yet to see them start together in the middle of the park.
The Ghanaian international has been sidelined with a hamstring injury but was spotted back in first-team training last week.
He has suffered from numerous injuries since joining the North London club which have become more frequent with every passing season.
There has been speculation about a return before the new year which has now only been fuelled after the latest squad announcement.
Partey has been included in Ghana’s 55 preliminary squad for next month’s AFCON, with their opening game expected to kick off on the 14th of January.
It is still unknown if he will make an appearance for Arsenal before then, with a return against Liverpool this weekend expected to be unlikely.
Partey was never injured. Arteta’s bad politics is the cause. He doesn’t know how to rotate Partey and Rice in one position as Guardiola is doing. Similarly, he imposed injury on Gabriel Jesus after good performance on the right of attack against Man City simply because he doesn’t know how to rotate him and Saka. The same ‘injured’ Gabriel Jesus went to South America to play for Brazil. The same thing is happening on almost every position: Smith Rowe put up a scintillating performance against Sheffield United in the absence of injured Odegaard, since then Arteta doesn’t know how to handle the situation. There’s a conspiracy to push out the likes of Partey, Smith Rowe and Nketiah, while going into market to buy less quality players as usual who will be happy on the bench.