Mikel Arteta has already completed the transfer mission amid the latest Thomas Partey injury
If Arsenal ever wanted proof of how much they’ve evolved recently then their 3-1 victory over Manchester United was it.
364 days prior they had come up against United on a sunny September afternoon without Thomas Partey. On that occasion, they were punished brutally in a 3-1 defeat as Albert Sambi Lokonga tried and failed to replicate what the Ghanaian offers. Partey’s status as the most irreplaceable member was reaffirmed.
Almost exactly a year later the conditions seemed prime for history to repeat itself. The sun was shining on a September Sunday, the world was watching as Arsenal took on United and once again Partey was absent. Those fears though, were legacies of the past. This time around, we saw the future.
Of course, Declan Rice’s late goal was the headline grabber, but the England midfielder’s sublime overall display showed Arsenal fans exactly what they’ve got to look forward to.
“I think a tremendous performance,” said Mikel Arteta leading the chorus of glowing reviews for Arsenal’s £105million man. “When you look at how a holding midfielder needs to dominate his area, how he needs to break up play, how he glided the team together when they were stretched a bit. Then he produced a magic moment to win us the game.”
Arteta would also go on to confirm that Partey is set to miss “weeks” with an injury sustained in training. Many have viewed this as something Arsenal should be afraid of. With all due respect to the Ghanaian though, it is instead arguably one of the most exciting times in the club’s recent history.
Much of Arsenal’s transfer business has been about moving on from Partey. You could argue that the wheels were in motion when they signed Jorginho in January, but at 31 years of age, the Italian was only ever going to be a stopgap. In Rice, they have the future. That is perhaps the most tantalizing thing about watching the baby steps of his Gunners career.
For a time in the summer, it seemed as though Partey would move on to leave Arsenal’s midfield in a real sink-or-swim situation without him.
Despite interest from Saudi Arabia and Juventus though, Arteta was insistent that he wanted Partey to stay. This has probably worked out for the best as the Gunners now have a transition period into life without the influential Ghanaian rather than fully ripping off the plaster straight away.
When Partey returns he’ll certainly have a role to play, and this argument is not meant to imply that he doesn’t still have something to offer.
But it’s not just the Arsenal midfield that are stepping into the future. With Partey out of the side, the oldest player in the starting lineup against Manchester United was Oleksandr Zinchenko at the age of 26. If you think about what the Gunners are already capable of at this point then it takes some serious discipline to stop yourself from getting carried away over what is to come.
Arteta has been keen to take his side into the future with the way he has built the Arsenal squad over the past few seasons. With Partey now out for the next few weeks, we will get a true glimpse into what that looks like for the first time.
Mikel Arteta has already completed the transfer mission amid the latest Thomas Partey injury
