Thomas Partey picks up Simao’s baton as Atletico Madrid’s unlikely leading scorer

The damage of Atletico Madrid’s goalscoring drought is being minimised by an unlikely player in the Rojiblancos squad, Thomas Partey.

A poor return of only 19 goals in 16 matches is surprising considering the quality of attacking options at Diego Simeone’s disposal.

But a defensive midfielder from Ghana named Thomas has emerged to net four goals and make himself the first midfielder in nine seasons to be at the top of the club’s scoring charts at this stage of the season.

Nine seasons ago, it was the midfield battering ram of Simao who was getting the goals (one against Real Madrid, one against Liverpool and two against Villarreal) and he shared top spot with forward Florent Sinama Pongolle, while Partey is currently matched by Angel Correa.

In seasons gone by, Atletico have had an abundance of prolific strikers to call upon.With three months of the season gone, the likes of Diego Forlan, Sergio Aguero and Diego Costa had more than enough time to set their sights and take responsibility for Atletico’s scoring in years gone by.

Next in line has been for that mantle has been Antoine Griezmann who, for the last two seasons, has been in fine form.But at the moment, it’s the Ghanaian who is taking centre stage.

Thomas’ achievement is made all the more remarkable by the fact he has only completed half of all Atletico’s matches this season.