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For the first time since Thomas Partey left his home town of Krobo Odumase in eastern Ghana at the age of 11, he woke on Tuesday without a club. Three days later the midfielder, who had departed Arsenal after his contract expired, was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.
What happens next with Partey’s career will be determined by the outcome of legal proceedings scheduled to start with his appearance at Westminster magistrates court on 5 August. The allegations relate to three women who reported incidents between 2021 and 2022. Partey denies all the charges and “welcomes the opportunity to finally clear his name”, his lawyer said.
Partey, 32, had been linked with moves to Spain, Turkey and Saudi Arabia in recent weeks after talks over extending his Arsenal contract hit an impasse, even though Arsenal’s manager, Mikel Arteta, had insisted in May that he wanted him to stay. “Consistency-wise it’s been his best season,” Arteta said. “The way he’s played, performed, his availability, has been exceptional and he’s a really important player for us.”
Partey joined Arsenal from Atlético Madrid in a record fee paid for a Ghanaian player – £45m – in October 2020. He struggled with injuries during his first two seasons at the Emirates but became a regular during the 2022-23 campaign when Arsenal finished as runners-up behind Manchester City. A hamstring injury in November 2023 kept Partey out for most of the following season before he emerged as a key performer last season at the base of Arsenal’s midfield.
The impending arrival of Martín Zubimendi from Real Sociedad in a £51m deal that has been in the pipeline since January affected Partey’s status as a first choice, with the Spain international expected to line up alongside Martin Ødegaard and Declan Rice in a recalibrated midfield.
Partey is understood to have been offered a new deal on slightly reduced terms and confirmation of his departure came with Arsenal having agreed a fee that could rise to £15m to bring in Brentford’s Christian Nørgaard as his replacement. Partey made 52 appearances last season. Arsenal will face questions about whether it was appropriate for him to have continued playing while being investigated by the police over such serious allegations.
Partey moved to Europe after being spotted playing for Ashaiman Revelation FC in Accra as a teenager. “I played for them until I was 18, which is when I moved to Spain,” Partey told Arsenal’s website. “But that was the club I grew up at as a footballer. We had a good, young, talented team at the time, and I still have a few mates from that time who are now playing elsewhere in Europe. They are not at the very top now but they are still playing and I still talk with them a lot.”
He was encouraged to attend trials in Spain by his father, who coached him as a junior, and joined Leganés before moving to Atlético in 2012. The tough-tackling player was sent on loan to Mallorca and Almería before eventually making his debut for Diego Simeone’s side in 2015. He made almost 200 appearances for Atlético and was part of the side beaten in the 2016 Champions League final by Real Madrid before winning the Europa League two years later.
Partey has played 52 times for his country, scoring nine goals. Ghana confirmed last month that Partey had been “given a break by head coach Otto Addo” after he wasn’t included in their squad for the Unity Cup tournament in London. He also missed their Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Angola and Niger last November after holding “confidential” talks with Addo.
Partey has represented Ghana at three Afcon finals and the 2022 World Cup, where they were eliminated in the group stages. He remains one of the country’s most famous figures.
