Thomas Partey‘s representatives have reportedly revealed how they received a phone call from Arsenal at 2am on Sunday – taking the player and Atletico Madrid by complete surprise.
Partey knew Gunners were interested in him, but went to bed on Sunday night fully expecting to be an Atletico Madrid player this season.
The Gunners, though, had other ideas, and decided this would be the right time to get the ball in motion and phoned Partey's representatives at 2am, prompting ‘everything to change', according to Spanish publication Marca.
Partey allegedly learned of Arsenal's intentions on Monday morning, with Marca reporting that the midfielder and agent ‘could not have imagined' that he had already played his final game for Atleti
The Ghanaian is then said to have been ‘put on the spot' and made to make a decision before Mikel Arteta's side later triggered his £52.5million release clause.
Arsenal splashed out £110m on the midfielder, agreeing to pay him £260,000-a-week for four years and handing him a £2.5m signing-on fee.
Partey's agent,on the other hand, also made 10 per cent commission from the deal.
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Diego Simeone was reportedly very unhappy with the way Arsenal swooped so late for the midfielder and prevented them from signing a replacement in time.
This article was most recently revised and updated 4 years ago
