Arsenal: 3 reasons Thomas Partey-Alexandre Lacazette swap a smart deal

2. Partey is younger

Lacazette’s contract issue, as with Aubameyang also, touches on the state of the Arsenal team at present and the subsequent aim of the decisions made in assembling a new one. As Mikel Arteta continues to settle into life as head coach, the team is not close to being competitive.

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Arsenal are entering a rebuilding phase. In truth, they have been rebuilding for almost an entire decade, perhaps only peaking for a brief two-year period during Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez’s best form. And this summer, they must make decisions that line up with the rebuilding approach the club requires.

The team is not ready to win in the next year or two, so investing heavily in veteran players who offer little re-sale value and will be long past their peak in two or three years makes little sense. Lacazette, however, represents precisely this. He turned 29 in May, has played a lot of games, and is not the most robust, having suffered several ankle and knee problems since arriving in 2017.

This is not to say that he cannot be useful over the next few years. He can, and it is likely that Arsenal would not immediately find a higher-performing centre-forward. But in this team’s current cycle, a 26-year-old Partey will peak when the team does. Lacazette, on the other hand, will be well and truly on the decline.