Arsenal: 3 things Thomas Partey signing would immediately fix

2. Midfield presence

I use this word a lot—presence. Particularly when I’m gushing over Granit Xhaka, because he has gobs of it. Lucas Torreira and Guendouzi, unfortunately, don’t. At least not yet.

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What I mean by midfield presence is the ability to control possession in the middle of the pitch, fend off the ballhawks on the other side, and not have to move one way or the other. It’s the difference between a chaotic match like we saw against Manchester United two seasons ago, where everyone was flying everywhere and essentially no club had a midfield, and a controlled, composed match.

Never underestimate how important it is to feel in control. That comes from primarily from the midfield. That’s where the majority of the game is going to flow through. And like I alluded to in the last slide, when we had a midfield trio of Xhaka, Guendouzi, and Torreira, there were matches where we had a dominant presence.

But with Partey, it would be cemented. With his defensive work-rate and ball retention and Granit Xhaka’s coolness in possession, there is no opposing midfield that would trouble us anymore.

Lastly, No. 1.