Thomas Partey made quite the first impression. ‘One of the best debuts I’ve ever seen,’ was Owen Hargreaves’s assessment of Partey’s first start for Arsenal against Rapid Vienna.
‘Fantastic and much more to come,’ was his manager Mikel Arteta’s view. ‘This is where he looks like Patrick Vieira, travelling with the ball and making things happen,’ lauded Arsenal legend Martin Keown.
Arsenal’s new £45million midfielder from Atletico Madrid already compared to one of the club’s greatest ever. We’ll come back to that.
It’s not always been that way.