8pm Arsenal transfer news LIVE: Thomas Partey FLYING TO LONDON, Auoar LATEST, Guendouzi to Hertha Berlin, Rekik UPDATE – The Sun
ARSENAL have confirmed to LaLiga that they WILL pay Thomas Partey's £45m Atletico Madrid release clause.
The midfielder is now reportedly flying to London with a view to signing a deal with the Gunners before tonight's 11pm deadline.
Follow ALL of the Gunners latest transfer deadline day news and updates below…
- Joe Miles
OH GUEN THEN
Matteo Guendouzi is “buzzing” to continue his career with Hertha Berlin.
The midfielder slipped down the pecking order at Arsenal following a bust-up with Mikel Arteta.
But he's set for a fresh start with the Bundesliga side…
- Joe Miles
GUNN BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Sevilla have launched a tongue-in-cheek bid for axed Arsenal mascot Gunnersaurus.
The Champions League Twitter account asked: “Which player would you like your club to sign today? deadlineday ucl“.
And Sevilla's official English language account decided to have a bit of fun, by quoting the tweet with a picture of Gunnersaurus.
- Joe Miles
'WHAT A SIGNING'
Michael Richards has backed Arsenal's move for top target Thomas Partey.
He told BBC Sport: “Thomas Partey – what a signing.
“I cannot believe there are not more clubs lining up for him.
“He is so good.
“A lot of people just think about him defensively, but he has actually got quite a bit going forward.”
- Joe Miles
MATT'S YOUR LOT
Matteo Guendouzi looks delighted to have joined Hertha Berlin on loan from the Gunners.
- sstreet
PART-ING COMPANY
Thomas Partey has written a farewell speech which Atletico Madrid will post on social media later, according to The AFC Bell.
The Twitter account adds that the Ghanaian has completed his initial medical checks in Madrid and will undergo the second part of his medical when his plane arrives in London.
- Joe Miles
ON THE BALL
Daniel Ballard is “excited” after completing his move to Blackpool from Arsenal.
He said: “I'm really, hopefully I can learn lots.
“Hopefully I can give some good performances for the club.
“I'm really excited.”
- Joe Miles
JUMP GUNN
Arsenal look set to wrap up two further deadline-day deals by signing Omar Rekik and Nikolaj Duus Moller, according to reports.
The Gunners are desperately trying to get their final pieces of business done before the transfer window closes at 11pm.
A late swoop for Thomas Partey is on the cards with Mikel Arteta hoping to land the Ghana midfielder.
But Rekik and Moller could arrive for a fraction of the price.
According to journalist Rik Elfrink, defender Rekik will complete a £900,000 transfer to the Gunners – if they can beat the race against time.
And Rekik could be followed through the door at the Emirates by another 18-year-old with Malmo's Moller a target.
Aftonbladet report the Gunners are ready to pay the Swedish outfit around £430,000 as they offer the 6ft 4ins attacker a four-year contract.
- sstreet
TOR DE FORCE
Lucas Torreira will finally join Atletico Madrid as Thomas Partey completes his move to Arsenal.
The Uruguayan completed his medical with Atleti at the weekend but was forced to wait and see whether the Spanish club could shift some players out before he signed.
However his season-long loan to Diego Simeone's team can now go ahead, according to Fabrizio Romano.
- Joe Miles
JOIN THE PARTEY
Thomas Partey is now flying to London, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The Gunners are set to trigger the 27-year-old's £45million release clause.
Romano said: “Atletico Madrid board have received the notification one hour ago from Arsenal for Thomas.
“afc are set to trigger the release clause for €50m tonight, race against tie then… here we go!”
- sstreet
TOUGH SAL
William Saliba is set to join Fulham on loan, according to reports.
The Telegraph's Sam Dean states that Mikel Arteta has given the all-clear for the former Saint-Etienne star to spend another year away from the club.
Rennes were thought to be interested and could have offered Champions League football but it now appears the Cottagers are in the driving seat.
- Joe Miles
DONE DEAL
Arsenal defender Daniel Ballard has joined Blackpool on loan for the rest of the season.
Ballard, 21, made his senior Northern Ireland debut last month.
The Gunners want to see how he copes with regular first team football.
- sstreet
LEV IT OUT
Sead Kolasinac's move to Bayer Leverkusen has reportedly fallen through, in a hit to Arsenal's finances.
Sky Sports News' Dharmesh Sheth said:
“Our colleagues in Germany have told me the deal to take Sead Kolasinac to Bayer Leverkusen is off.
“We’re still waiting for confirmation from Arsenal.
“They were hoping to get £10m in for the player and to take him off the wage bill as well. As it stands, that one is off.”
- Joe Miles
DONE DEAL
Hertha Berlin have confirmed his arrival.
- Joe Miles
GOING, GOING, GUEN
Matteo Guendouzi has completed his loan move to Hertha Berlin.
The Frenchman has made 82 appearances for the Gunners since he joined from Lorient in 2018.
- sstreet
DEVIL IN THE DETAIL
Michy Batshuayi has become the latest player to blast Arsenal's treatment of Gunnersaurus.
The Crystal Palace striker posted a picture to Twitter of himself elbow-bumping Belgium's Red Devil with the caption: “And this is how you treat your team mascot.”
- Joe Miles
PARTEY TIME?
Atletico Madrid will NOT negotiate a deal for Thomas Partey with Arsenal, according to Guillem Balague.
The only way Arsenal can land their man is if they fork out to pay his £45million release clause.
Balague revealed: “Let me say there is no deal with Atletico Madrid because they will not negotiate at all.
“Which means what Arsenal have to do is go to LaLiga and say, 'we are willing to pay his buyout clause'.
“So no real negotiations are taking place, just Arsenal have to take that last step.”
- sstreet
FEELING THE BLUES
Tributes to Gunnersaurus are coming in from far and wide with Chelsea the latest to send their regards to the sacked mascot.
But eagle-eyed supporters may notice that their picture of the Arsenal mascot with the Blues' Stamford the Lion is taken at the Europa League final in Baku where Chelsea were crushing 4-1 winners.
- Joe Miles
PAUL THE OTHER ONE
Paul Merson has claimed he almost fell off his chair when he heard Arsenal are set to pay Thomas Partey's £45million release clause.
He said: “He's a top drawer player, I nearly fell off my chair when I heard £45million.
“I don't think that's a lot of money at all for the quality of player you're getting here.
“The one thing he brings as well, discipline. He's played at Atletico Madrid, who are one of the most disciplined teams in Europe.”
- sstreet
'WE CANNOT LET HIM BECOME EXTINCT'
Arsenal fans have set up a GoFundMe page for Gunnersaurus, played by Jerry Quy, after the mascot was relieved of his duties today.
A statement on the page read: “Gunnersaurus has been the Arsenal club mascot for 27 years. He's a club icon and we cannot let him become extinct.
“Played by lifelong fan Jerry Quy, it would be a terrible shame to lose him. The mascot league is the only one we've consistently been on top of, let's keep our all time top scorer on top.
“Let's raise some money to keep Gunnersaurus going. Please give generously!”
The likes of Ian Wright and Piers Morgan also added their names to calls to keep the mascot on.
- Joe Miles
IN THE NIK OF TIME
Arsenal are reportedly set to sign 18-year-old striker Nikolaj Moller from Malmo.
Swedish outlet AftonBladet have claimed he is expected to join for a fee of £420,000.
It is reported that he will pen a four-year deal with Arsenal if an agreement is reached before the deadline.
He kicked off his career at Malmo before he joined Bologna in 2018 – where he was compared to Zlatan Ibrahimovic by fans.
- sstreet
CALL OF DUTY
Atletico Madrid know NOTHING about Arsenal paying Thomas Partey's release clause, according to Guillem Balague.
But fear not, Gunners fans, Arsenal do not have to let the Spanish side know in order to push the transfer through.
The North Londoners have already notified LaLiga of their intentions. However, Atletico are still expecting a courtesy call.
- Kiro Evans
MERSE MOURNS GUNNERSAURUS
Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has been paying tribute to Gunnersaurus in his own inimitable way.
Arsenal announced they parted ways with the beloved mascot this morning and ex-Gunner Merson was devastated.
- <a href='http://www.thesun.co.uk/sport' rel='external nofollow ugc' class='url'>Alex Terrell</a>
PARTEY STATS
Here are Thomas Partey's numbers this season.
No goals or assists to write home about this season, but it's his defensive stability and ability to run the ball from deep which stands out.
- Kiro Evans
THE REALITY OF THE RELEASE CLAUSE
Arsenal are edging closing to Partey after they reportedly activated his release clause – but what are they and how do they work?
A release clause – or buy out clause – is a set fee that a buying club can pay a selling club in order to contractually oblige them to offload a player.
Release clauses are not compulsory but are almost universally applied because players without one would be able to go to court to buy themselves out of their contract.
That would create uncertainty for all parties and therefore, both players and clubs are keen to agree release clauses in advance.
Partey's release clause is set at £45m.
- sstreet
WILF HE OR WON'T HE?
Atletico Madrid could be set to use the money accrued from the sale of Thomas Partey to sign the man who was once Arsenal's top target.
The Guardian's Ed Aarons states that Wilfried Zaha is not expected to move to Everton but that Atletico could provide a shock alternative option.
Diego Simeone will, however, not bid for Zaha unless a deal for Thomas Partey goes through, handing Atleti a £45m windfall.
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