Arsenal to raise transfer funds for Thomas Partey
Arsenal are likely to sell Matteo Guendouzi, Alexandre Lacazette or Lucas Torreira to raise the funds required to sign Atletico Madrid's defensive midfielder Thomas Partey.
The club are confident that the 27-year-old Ghanaian will sign but Arsenal are facing huge losses with the Arsenal Supporters' Trust estimating that next year's deficit could be £144million.
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Partey is understood to be keen to join Mikel Arteta next season and the Arsenal manager has him marked down as a key arrival.
But Arsenal, who asked their players to take a 12.5 per cent pay cut during the coronavirus lockdown, will only be able to spend money raised from sales this summer or bring in loan deals, making rebuilding the team problematic.
Head of international recruitment Francis Cagigao, who brought in Gabriel Martinelli, has been working on the deal and initially identified Partey as a key signing. The potential transfer now has been approved by technical director Edu and Arteta.
But Arsenal's finances means it will take some time to be confirmed, with the ales needing to be confirmed. The club want to keep Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang, who is in talks to extend his deal which ends in 2021 but who is the most saleable asset.
Henrik Mkhitaryan is making his loan move to Roma permanent but Arsenal's chief difficulty is that it looks impossible to shift Mesut Ozil, on £350,000-a-week.
The club are likely to explore loan options over the summer to mitigate the final year of his deal. But Ozil is settled, doesn't appear keen to move and the club may have to allow him to run down the final year of the deal even though he isn't guaranteed first-team football.
