Arsenal to pay Thomas Partey's release clause

Chelsea fall out of the bidding: Arsenal will be the club to take over Thomas Partey's services. Antonio Ruiz reported that the Gunners intend to pay his exit clause, so the transfer will depend entirely on the player.

And this is to join none other than the squad of Mikel Arteta. He has already told the Arsenal management that it is what he wants, so the deal will most likely become official during the day. The transfer market closes at midnight.

Several media sources point out that this clause is worth 50 million euros. This is considerably more than his market value, which, as estimated by ProFootballDB, BeSoccer's data laboratory, is 34.8 million.

If confirmed, this will be a hard blow for the Atletico at the last minute. While they will have plenty of financial leeway to find a replacement, they will lose a key player in Simeone's plans. Last season, he started 39 games and played 46.