Thomas Partey

Thomas Teye Partey (born 13 June 1993)[5] is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or right-back for Premier League club Arsenal and the Ghana national team.[6]

Thomas Partey
Partey with Atlético Madrid in 2019
Personal information
Full name Thomas Teye Partey[1]
Date of birth (1993-06-13) 13 June 1993[2]
Place of birth Krobo Odumase, Ghana
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[3]
Position(s) Defensive midfielder, right-back
Team information
Current team
 Arsenal
Number 5
Youth career
2011–2012 Odometah[4]
2012 Leganés
2012–2013 Atlético Madrid
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013–2015 Atlético Madrid B 28 (3)
2013–2014 → Mallorca (loan) 37 (5)
2014–2015 → Almería (loan) 31 (4)
2015–2020 Atlético Madrid 132 (12)
2020– Arsenal 85 (5)
International career‡
2016– Ghana 47 (13)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:46, 8 October 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 03:53, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

Partey began his professional career at Spanish club Atlético Madrid in 2013, going on loan to Mallorca and Almería, and returned to Atlético in 2015, with whom he won the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Super Cup in 2018. In 2020, he joined Arsenal in a transfer worth £45 million (€50 million), becoming the most expensive Ghanaian player of all time.

A Ghanaian international, Partey represented his nation at three Africa Cup of Nations (2017, 2019, and 2021) and the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He was named into the CAF Team of the Year in 2018, and won Ghana Player of the Year in 2018 and 2019.

Club career

Atlético Madrid
Partey with Atlético Madrid in 2018.

Born in Krobo Odumase, Partey was a product of local club Odometah's youth ranks.[4] He signed with Atlético Madrid in 2012, after a short spell with Leganés,[7] and was subsequently moved to the reserves a year later. On 10 March 2013, Partey was called up to the main squad for the match against Real Sociedad.[8] However, he remained unused in the eventual 0–1 home defeat.[9]

Mallorca and Almería

On 12 July, Partey was loaned to Mallorca, freshly relegated to the second level.[10] On 18 August, he made his professional debut, in a 0–4 away defeat against Sabadell.[11] Partey scored his first professional goal on 15 September, netting his side's second of a 2–2 draw at Hércules.[12]

On 27 July 2014, Partey joined La Liga side Almería on a loan.[13] He made his debut in the competition on 23 August, starting in a 1–1 home draw against Espanyol.[14] Partey scored his first goals in the main category of Spanish football on 11 April 2015, netting a brace in a 3–0 home win against Granada.[15]

Return to Atlético Madrid

Partey made his first team debut for Atlético Madrid on 28 November 2015, replacing Luciano Vietto in a 1–0 home win against Espanyol.[16] On 2 January of the following year, he scored his first league goal for the club, netting the game's only strike in a home success over Levante.[17] On 28 May, he played in the UEFA Champions League Final against Real Madrid, replacing Koke in the 116th minute as his side lost on penalties.[18]

Partey signed a contract extension with Atlético Madrid through 2022 on 14 February 2017.[19] On 31 October, he scored his first European goal with a long-range strike to equalise at home to Qarabağ in a 1–1 draw in the Champions League group game; he became the first African to score in the competition for Atlético.[20] Following his impressive performances for the club, he was rewarded with another contract on 1 March 2018, this time until 2023.[21] On 16 May, he played in the 2018 UEFA Europa League Final, as his side won 3–0 against Marseille.[22]

On 1 September 2019, Partey came on as a late substitute and netted the match's winner in the last minute of the game, as Atlético came back from 2–0 down to win the game by 3–2 against Eibar.[23] He marked his 100th La Liga appearance for Los Rojiblancos with a man-of-the-match performance in a 0–0 draw against Real Madrid in the Madrid derby four weeks later.[24] Despite leaving Atlético at the beginning of the 2020–21 season, Partey made enough appearances at the start of the season to become eligible for a winner's medal as Atlético won La Liga that year.[25][26]

Arsenal

On 5 October 2020, Premier League club Arsenal announced the signing of Partey on a long-term contract, after activating his £45 million (€50 million) release clause with Atlético Madrid. He was given the number 18 shirt, which had been vacated by Nacho Monreal the previous season.[27] Upon signing, Partey stated his desire to help Arsenal "back where [they] belong", describing his decision to move being based on "[wanting] to experience new challenges", while also crediting the transfer to manager Mikel Arteta and technical director Edu.[28]

On 17 October 2020, Partey made his debut for Arsenal as a substitute for Granit Xhaka in a 0–1 away defeat in the league against Manchester City.[29] Five days later, he started his first match for Arsenal in a 2–1 away win over Rapid Wien in the UEFA Europa League.[30] Midway through a match against Aston Villa on 8 November, he suffered a thigh injury which saw him miss the rest of the month's games.[31] He returned on 6 December in the North London derby, but suffered another injury at half-time as Arsenal lost 2–0 to Tottenham Hotspur.[32] He did not play again until a month later, which he came off the bench in a 0–0 draw against Crystal Palace.[33][34] On 22 October 2021, Partey scored his first goal for Arsenal in a 3–1 win against Aston Villa.[35] In February 2022, Partey was named Arsenal's player of the month.[36]

International career

In May 2016, Partey was called up for the first time to the Ghana national team by manager Avram Grant, ahead of a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification match against Mauritius.[37] He made his debut on 5 June, replacing Frank Acheampong for the final 11 minutes of a 2–0 away win that booked the Black Stars' position in the finals.[38] On 5 September 2017, Partey scored his first international hat-trick in a 5–1 win against Congo in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification.[39]

Partey was chosen in Kwesi Appiah's 23-man squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.[40] In their last group game, he scored in a 2–0 win over Guinea-Bissau at the Suez Stadium as the Black Stars topped their group.[41] He netted in the penalty shootout at the end of the last-16 game against Tunisia on 8 July, though his team was eliminated.[42]

Partey won Ghana Player of the Year in 2018 and 2019.[43][44] Ahead of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, as well as for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Partey was named Ghana's vice-captain.[45][46]

In November 2022, Partey was called up to the 26-man Ghana squad that would compete in Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.[47]

Media

Partey was involved in the Amazon Original sports docuseries All or Nothing: Arsenal, which documented the club by spending time with the coaching staff and players behind the scenes both on and off the field throughout their 2021–22 season.[48][49]

Personal life

In March 2022, because of his Moroccan girlfriend, Sara Bella, Partey converted to Islam.[50] In June, it was reported that he had changed his first name to Yakubu as part of his religious conversion, while remaining Thomas Partey both legally and professionally;[51] he said days later that he had changed his name back to Thomas.[52]

In June 2022, Partey was made a chief of the Manya Krobo people of the Eastern Region of Ghana by their paramount chief, Nene Sakite II, as a reward for captaining the team to 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification at the expense of neighbours Nigeria.[53]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 8 October 2023[54]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[lower-alpha 1] League cup[lower-alpha 2] Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Mallorca (loan) 2013–14 Segunda División 37510———385
Almería (loan) 2014–15 La Liga 31410———324
Atlético Madrid 2015–16 La Liga 13251—5[lower-alpha 3]0—233
2016–17 La Liga 16120—6[lower-alpha 3]0—241
2017–18 La Liga 33331—14[lower-alpha 4]1—505
2018–19 La Liga 32330—6[lower-alpha 3]01[lower-alpha 5]0423
2019–20 La Liga 35310—8[lower-alpha 3]12[lower-alpha 6]0464
2020–21 La Liga 3000—00—30
Total 13212142—3923018816
Arsenal 2020–21 Premier League 24010008[lower-alpha 7]0—330
2021–22 Premier League 2420020——262
2022–23 Premier League 33310006[lower-alpha 7]0—403
2023–24 Premier League 400000001[lower-alpha 8]050
Total 8552020140101045
Career total 28525182205324036229
  1. Includes Copa del Rey, FA Cup
  2. Includes EFL Cup
  3. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  4. Six appearances and one goal in UEFA Champions League, eight appearances in UEFA Europa League
  5. Appearance in UEFA Super Cup
  6. Appearances in Supercopa de España
  7. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  8. Appearance in FA Community Shield

International
As of match played 17 October 2023[55]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Ghana 201650
2017105
201842
201993
202020
202142
202291
202340
Total4713
As of match played 17 October 2023.
Ghana score listed first, score column indicates score after each Partey goal.[55]
List of international goals scored by Thomas Partey
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
11 September 2017Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi, Ghana Congo1–11–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification
25 September 2017Stade Municipal de Kintélé, Brazzaville, Congo Congo2–05–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification
33–1
44–1
510 October 2017King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia3–03–0Friendly
630 May 2018International Stadium, Yokohama, Japan Japan2–02–0Friendly
77 June 2018Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland Iceland2–22–2Friendly
826 March 2019Accra Sports Stadium, Accra, Ghana Mauritania3–13–1Friendly
92 July 2019Suez Stadium, Suez, Egypt Guinea-Bissau2–02–02019 Africa Cup of Nations
1014 November 2019Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast, Ghana South Africa1–02–02021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
119 October 2021Cape Coast Sports Stadium, Cape Coast, Ghana Zimbabwe2–13–12022 FIFA World Cup qualification
1212 October 2021National Sports Stadium, Harare, Zimbabwe Zimbabwe1–01–02022 FIFA World Cup qualification
1329 March 2022Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, Nigeria Nigeria1–01–12022 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Atlético Madrid

Arsenal

Individual

References
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