By Daniel Finton (Deputy Editor)
Persistent Thomas Partey links could be down to Raul Sanllehi’s “dark magic” and controversial approach to transfers
Though nobody has any clue what is going to happen in the next transfer window (whenever that may be), that has not stopped the ever abundant amount of reliable and even more abundant unreliable papers and websites from putting out reports about hypothetical transfers. Arsenal have been heavily linked with a move for Atletico Madrid’s Thomas Partey for some time now and it does not appear as if the rumours will fade away anytime soon.
Of course, the obvious question on everyone’s mind is, ‘where are these rumours sprouting from?’ Well, they could be coming from a number of places in truth. The most likely case is that the media are aware of the fact that the Gunners have some interest in the highly thought of Ghanaian and are weaselishly exploiting that information, but there are also other possibilities as well. Partey and his agent could just be looking for a new contract from Atleti and are merely using Arsenal’s reported interest as leverage to secure a lucrative deal with the current 6th place side in La Liga to ensure the midfielder’s future with the club sees him "well-compensated", if you catch my drift. Agents do this all the time to get their clients the best deals possible.
However, from my sceptical and overthinking perspective, I believe that our head of football, Raul Sanllehi, has something to do with the rumours and moreover, the perpetual nature of them. While the former Barcelona corporate man is often slated for his controversial approach to transfer dealings, this seemingly effective approach that sees the Partey transfer talked about on a constant basis has “Don Raul” plastered all over it. Like the also ever controversial agents within the game, Sanllehi is not scared of doing things in a manipulatively maniacal way, even if they are heavily frowned upon by the general public.
Despite there being a worldwide pandemic that has gone as far as halting proceedings on the pitch, I don’t think that the aforementioned ruthless agents or the equally so, Sanllehi, will let that stop them from using their “dark magic” off of it do their jobs. In this scenario, the player that Sanllehi seems to want just so happens to be Partey. The fact is, if a team is linked with a player on a constant enough basis and they have some attributes which could see them deemed as an attractive proposition to a player, they have a good chance of signing the individual in which they are longing for.
Before his time with Arsenal, Sanllehi pulled off some maliciously controversial, yet admittedly masterful, deals in his time with Barcelona, including that of Neymar's transfer, and Barcelona used a similar approach which appears to be reminiscent of the one being used to coerce Partey to join Mikel Arteta’s exciting project. The sneaky snakes like Sanllehi working behind the scenes may not do things in the prettiest way, but there is no denying that sometimes using dark magic rather than being the protagonist is the way to get things done.
All in all, I’m not personally a fan of Sanllehi’s approach to transfers, because like many others, I see a stat driven and analytic oriented way of operating in the transfer market as a more effective way of going about things than a contact based approach. However, the Spanish head of football operations has his ways about going about things and if it brings a player as talented as Partey through the Emirates doors, who are any of us to judge?
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