A round-up of the latest Arsenal news as Ian Wright identifies three transfer targets for Mikel Arteta to chase and Thomas Partey is approached to discuss a move away.
Ashley Young feels ‘people were sceptical’ when Declan Rice joined Arsenal
Ashley Young believes people were ‘sceptical’ about what Declan Rice would offer Arsenal at first. But the Everton defender feels the midfielder has proven his value in north London. He particularly thinks Rice achieved another level with his performances at the turn of the year.
Arsenal paid West Ham United a club-record fee to sign Rice last summer to improve boss Mikel Arteta’s engine room. The 25-year-old proved to be a vital figure from the get-go, too, with 48 starts from 51 appearances. He also offered the Gunners seven goals and 10 assists.
Arteta even fielded Rice in all but one of Arsenal’s games across all competitions after loving his box-to-box impact. Yet Young feels there were some doubts he could live up to a £100m, rising to £105m after add-ons, price tag. But any doubts are now a distant memory for Rice.
“I think a lot was talked about the price tag,” Young said on talkSPORT (21/5, 17:25). “I think nowadays that is the standard that the prices have been hyped up.
“[Rice] has delivered for Arsenal. I think the first couple of games, people were sceptical [about] what he’s going to do [and] what he’s going to produce. But, especially since the turn of this year, he has been fantastic for Arsenal.”
Read more about what Young has had to say about Rice, here.
Fenerbahce president asks Thomas Partey to wait for a transfer away from Arsenal
Fenerbahce president Ali Koc has asked Thomas Partey to wait for after his Super Lig side’s upcoming elections before sealing a move away from Arsenal. That is according to Fotospor, which reports that the Yellow Canaries will vote for their next president from May 30 to 31.
Koc wants to sign Partey and will hold negotiations with Arsenal to discuss a transfer for the 30-year-old if Fenerbahce re-elect him. The Turkish team are also already preparing a €10m (£8.5m) bid to start talks. They feel Partey may move cheaply as his contract lapses in 2025.
Arsenal are not opposed to selling Partey this summer if he does not sign a new contract at Emirates Stadium. The Ghanaian also responded positively to Koc asking Partey to wait until Fenerbahce can formally start negotiations before agreeing to a transfer away from Arsenal.
Read more about Fenerbahce’s interest in Partey’s transfer from Arsenal, here.
Ian Wright identifies the three positions Arsenal must ‘strengthen’
Highbury hero Ian Wright has now told Mikel Arteta the three positions Arsenal must look to ‘strengthen’ this summer. The iconic England star is adamant the Gunners must roll the dice in the off-season to fight Manchester City for the Premier League title once again next term.
Manchester City edged Arsenal on the final day of the 2023/24 season by two points, having also pipped the Gunners in 2022/23. Arteta ran his former mentor, Pep Guardiola, closer last term but his Emirates Stadium side endured two more defeats than the Etihad Stadium club.
Arsenal’s lack of an out-and-out No9 who can lead Arteta’s line is not where Wright believes the north Londoners must focus their spending, however. Instead, he wants the Gunners to sign players who can rival William Saliba and Bukayo Saka, while giving Arteta greater depth.
“Everybody talks about the centre-forward,” Wright outlined on Stick to Football. “But we’ve shown that, as difficult as it can be, that we can deal with the hit of not having that out-and-out centre-forward. I think we need cover for Saka, cover for Saliba and another midfielder.
“You look at what [Man] City are doing in respect of bringing players in. You need someone who can, at some stage, challenge someone like Saliba for his position because we need to strengthen the whole squad. Look at the bench, we need cover for Saka.”
Read more about what Wright has said about Arsenal’s summer transfer plans, here.