Thomas Partey’s agent issues apology over 'transfer hint'

Representatives of Thomas Partey have rendered an apology over a social media post they shared this week when linked the Ghana midfielder with a possible transfer to the English Premier League.

The 26-year-old has been heavily linked with a move to Arsenal in the upcoming summer transfer window.

Last week, the midfielder's father fuelled transfer speculations by claiming that his son has opened discussions with the Gunners.

But his statement was swiftly quashed by JJ Sports Managers SL who are the player's representatives.

However, it has emerged that the player, who has a €50 million (£47m) release clause in his contract, is favouring a move to Manchester United.

The Rojiblancos are looking to fend off interest from the Premier League’s elite by tying Partey down to a new long-term deal which would increase his release clause to €100m (£93m).

But Partey’s agency, JJ Sport Managers SL, cast serious doubt over Partey remaining in Madrid on Wednesday as they uploaded an image to their Instagram page, encouraging supporters to ‘pick’ their client’s next club. Juventus, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-German, Arsenal and United were named as Partey’s five options and Atletico Madrid were omitted from the list.

The Instagram story was live for several hours before being deleted and the agency later apologised for the post in a short statement. ‘In view of the post that was made on Wednesday 29 April 2020 on our Instagram account, regarding the future of our player Thomas Partey, from JJ Sport Managers we want to convey that this post was not approved by the company management,’ it said. ‘An internal investigation has been opened to find out what exactly happened.

"We are sure that this has not been intentional on the part of any of our workers and it is probably an unfortunate mistake. ‘The post was deleted as soon as we became aware of its existence. ‘In addition, the passwords of all our social profiles have been modified to restrict access only to essential personnel."