Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey was withdrawn from the Ghana squad to face Brazil on Friday amid concerns over a possible injury.
The 29-year-old has played just four times for his club this season, with a thigh problem limiting his involvement, but he made his return with 78 minutes under his belt in the 3-0 win over Brentford just before the international break.
The fit-again Partey jetted off on international duty with Ghana and was billed to start Friday’s meeting with Brazil, only to be withdrawn from the squad at the last minute.
Local reports suggested Partey had complained of pain in his knee, prompting his eventual omission from the starting lineup.
While there has been no official update on Partey’s condition, Goal journalist Charles Watts had a positive message for concerned Arsenal fans.
“Good news as far as I understand when it comes to Thomas Partey and this injury,” Watts told his YouTube channel. “It was just purely absolutely precaution. Sounds like it was an issue with his knee.
“There was a report coming out from Ghana I saw that it was an issue with his knee that he felt in the warm-up. The decision was taken just not to risk it.
“Now I’ve spoken to people close to Thomas Partey today and they absolutely do not think it was anything serious whatsoever. He is not going to be coming back to Arsenal, he is going to stay with Ghana by all accounts.
“They do have another game coming up this week, and it doesn’t sound like he will play in that.
“Not because of the injury. It could be that the coach is going to use that game to have a look at some of the other players in his squad ahead of the World Cup rather than the… guaranteed starters.
“So on the whole it sounds relatively positive for Thomas Partey.
“Obviously it’s a worry that he has felt something but it doesn’t sound like it’s anything that should be keeping him out of the Spurs game after the international break.”
Credit: 90min.com
