Thomas Partey has worked under a serial winner in Diego Simeone. The pair worked together for five years at Atletico Madrid, before Partey left in 2020 to join Arsenal.
For all his critics over his style of play and pragmatism, Simeone has had wonderful success at Atletico, helping the La Liga club to punch above their weight. Under his management at Atletico, Partey won La Liga, the Europa League and a UEFA Super Cup in a three year spell.
On top of winning three major trophies, the Ghanaian midfielder also made a Champions League final under Simeone. His nous and experience of winning big accolades was no doubt a big factor as to why Arsenal worked hard to bring him to the club.
Some Gunners fans would have raised their eyebrows last year when Partey compared Mikel Arteta to Simeone, claiming that they shared the same mentality. However, with Arsenal top of the Premier League and easing through to the knockout stages of the Europa League – Partey is being proven right.
“I think both have the same mentality, which is to win, both want to have control,” he told Marca last February. The comparison came at a time where Arsenal were sitting in the bottom half of the Premier League table – and Arteta’s ‘winning mentality’ wasn’t particularly evident.
However, even though it’s taken some time, the Arsenal head coach is beginning to show that Simeone-like mentality that Partey praised. Both managers have very different processes – with Simeone’s game about sucking up pressure and hitting teams on the counter, while Arteta’s is about rotations and fluidity.
They couldn’t be much different in terms of their tactical approach, but as Partey called last year, a winning mentality is something they share.
By Laurie Martin
