Chelsea and Juventus were interested in Thomas Partey before the midfielder moved to Arsenal on deadline day, according to the player’s father.

Jacob Partey was asked whether there were other teams involved before the Gunners’ sealed the £45m transfer but he said that they were not phased by the interest as they were looking for the right club:

“We actually weren’t disturbed by anything because we hoped a bigger team will come for Partey. We were aware of the [other teams interested]: Juventus, Chelsea and so forth. All through this we knew God was with us. From that minute we started to dance to ‘Party after Party’.”

Partey certainly had to be patient for the deal to go through. Arsenal had been after the Ghanaian all summer but they had initially refused to pay the midfielder’s release clause.

However, it is thought that manager Mikel Arteta proceeded to make a special request to the club’s owners, the Kroenke family, to make the deal happen. The ownership then agreed to fund the transfer, by refinancing the club’s debt as well as making additional money available to finalise the move.

Partey has yet to join up with his new teammates after being involved with Ghana on international duty but he should be in contention to feature against Manchester City this weekend.