Sports News of Friday, 8 October 2021
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2021-10-08Thomas Partey is a great player – Nigeria’s Ndidi praises Black Stars midfielder
Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey
Wilfred Ndidi, Leicester City and Nigerian midfielder has hailed Ghana and Arsenal midfielder, Thomas Partey, as one of the best players on the continent.
Partey joined Arsenal last year from Atletico Madrid on a transfer deadline day after the Londoners met his £45million release clause.
Despite flashes of brilliance, Partey’s spell at Arsenal has been affected
Read full articleby injuries, limiting him to a few games.
But Ndidi who is regarded as one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League has passed a vote of confidence in the 28-year-old.
Responding to a request by some Arsenal fans who mobbed him and requested him to join Arsenal, Ndidi said that the Gunners already have “Thomas Partey who is a great player”.
He also savoured the prospect of playing alongside Thomas Partey and likened a possible partnership to the Michael Essien - Mikel Obi combination at Chelsea.
Whiles Partey has overcome his injuries and is now enjoying games for Arsenal, Ndidi is recovering from an injury that has kept him out of action for Leicester City and Nigeria.
Nigeria on Thursday lost 1-0 to the Central Africa Republic in the World Cup qualifiers and Gernot Rohr who is the coach of the Super Eagles believes the absence of Ndidi affected his team badly.
“Som0etimes you win and sometimes you lose, we lost. We had the opportunity to score but we couldn’t. We have to recover, and we have to make some changes in the team. We missed the creativity of Iwobi, we also missed Ndidi so much. It was not easy for [Frank] Onyeka and a first-timer [Taiwo] Awoniyi to come in this team,” Rohr.
Thomas Partey on the other hand will be in action for the Black Stars on Saturday when they face Zimbabwe at the Cape Coast stadium.
Partey will hope to impress coach Milovan Rajevac who will be overseeing the first game since his return to the team.
