Arsenal to Turn to Roma's Amadou Diawara as Thomas Partey Talks Stall
By Tom Gott
Arsenal are yet to find a breakthrough in their negotiations to sign Atlético Madrid midfielder Thomas Partey, and are now considering turning their attention to Roma's Amadou Diawara instead.
The Gunners are having a torrid time trying to sign Partey. They are believed to have indicated that paying his £45m release clause up front is not an option - 90min understands talks over paying that in instalments have been held - and have largely pursued fruitless swap deals involving Mattéo Guendouzi, Héctor Bellerin and others.
Atlético have held firm and insisted that Partey will only be allowed to leave if Arsenal trigger his release clause, and while that's a problem for the Gunners, it might not be their biggest issue as The Athletic's David Ornstein told the Tifo Podcast that Partey is looking for wages of £200,000-a-week.
Arsenal are under real pressure to balance their books this summer, having made 55 non-playing staff members redundant in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak, so affording such a wage packet would be incredibly tough, especially with Mesut Özil's £350,000-a-week wages still on the books.
With talks making little progress, Arsenal are considering other targets and La Gazzetta dello Sport note that Roma's Diawara has found himself on Mikel Arteta's wish list.
It is suggested that this story is largely led by Roma's desire to land Lucas Torreira, who is expected to leave the Emirates Stadium this summer after failing to hold down a regular place in Arteta's side, and a potential swap deal between the two players is seen as a plausible option.
The two sides have 'excellent relations' stemming from Henrikh Mkhitaryan's loan move to Roma last summer, and new Roma owner Dan Friedkin wants to use that to his advantage by swapping Diawara for Torreira.
23-year-old Diawara was an expensive arrival from Napoli last summer but endured a challenging debut campaign in Rome. He started just 19 Serie A games and missed a large part of the season through injury, and it now appears as though Roma are ready to part ways with the Guinea international.
Arteta's priority is still to pursue a deal for Partey, but if the finances simply aren't right, turning to a swap deal for Diawara might be a smart move.
The Gunners are rebuilding on a budget this summer, so swapping a wantaway squad player for someone who has long been viewed as a potential star of the future does seem like somewhat of a no-brainer.