Why Thomas Partey has Thomas and not Partey on his jersey

The furore around his move to Arsenal has aside his enormous footballing talent centred on his surname Partey which rhymes with party.

Fans of Arsenal and Ghanaians have been celebrating his big-money move with songs that sounds (sound) similar to his surname which has led to it becoming more popular.

Most jerseys displayed on social media by fans of Arsenal on social media has Partey not Thomas as fans relate more with his surname than the first.

Interestingly, however, the name at the back of his jersey is Thomas and not the popular Partey.

Questions have been raised about why the 27-year-old prefers his first name to his surname despite its popularity and his close connection with his father who sold family properties to fund his first trip to Europe.

For those puzzled by that decision, Partey has an answer for you. He has disclosed that despite the popularity of the Partey, he prefers the Thomas because of consistency.

He disclosed to Arsenal media during his unveiling that at the early stages of his career Thomas is what he used and will stick to it.

“I’ve seen that there are Parteys everywhere and even the photographer asked me why I don’t use Partey on my shirt. I said it’s because I started with Thomas and people are familiar with Thomas, so I need to go with Thomas,” (he disclosed).

Partey has joined a team that last celebrated league success over sixteen years ago and he has promised to help them end that wait.

He confidently expressed that with the help of coach Mikel Arteta and his teammates Arsenal can win big trophies including the Premier League and Champions League titles.

“It’s a great challenge,” added Partey, who won the Europa League and Uefa Super Cup, and played in the 2016 Champions League final with Atletico.

“I want to experience new challenges. I’m ready to give it my all and help this club.They [manager Mikel Arteta and technical director Edu] told me about their plans and it was so exciting so I had to accept it. I feel great to be here,” he added.