Arsenal should keep Thomas Partey and leave new signing Kai Havertz out of their team, according to former Tottenham striker Darren Bent.
Havertz became the Gunners’ first summer signing when he joined from Chelsea in a £65m deal at the end of last month.
Since then Arsenal have also brought in Jurrien Timber from Ajax and Declan Rice from West Ham with Mikel Arteta now looking at the possibility of some outgoings.
Partey has been heavily linked with a move to Saudi Arabia and a report yesterday evening claimed that the Ghana international has now ‘finally agreed’ a move to an unnamed club in the Middle Eastern country.
But former Sunderland and Aston Villa striker Bent reckons Arsenal should be looking to keep Partey with the Englishman not convinced Havertz should be starting.
“I’d keep Thomas Partey,” Bent tweeted about reports Partey had agreed terms on a move to Saudi Arabia.
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Bent added: “Partey, Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard, that’s a serious midfield combination – gives Rice more of a license to go forward.”
When asked by an Arsenal fan: “Where’s Havertz playing then?” Bent simply replied “He don’t.”
Arsenal legend Alan Smith has criticised Chelsea for their “scattergun” transfer approach with the Blues spending north of £600m on new players in the two transfer windows leading up to this summer and pinching Mykhaylo Mudryk off the Gunners.
“It’s been such a haphazard approach to signing players, it’s been really scattergun,” Smith told Gambling Zone. “I don’t think there was any method to their business last season.
“The signing of Mudryk is a great example of that. Arsenal was interested and they thought they’d pinch him off their London rivals.”
Smith added: “Chelsea have collected all these players. It looks like something Pochettino and the club are trying to sort out.
“Koulibaly came in last summer, now he’s gone. Some of the lads that have come through the ranks, they’ve been moved on and it appears like more of them might be on the way out of the club.
“Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have left, which is a shame because clubs don’t like to lose academy players that have come through the ranks.
“They need to get back to more of an organized approach. With so much movement in and out of the team, I think it’s going to be hard for Pochettino.”