The Athletic exclusively revealed on Tuesday that it seems Arsenal had long been aware that their former Ghana international defensive midfielder Thomas Partey, was suspected of multiple sexual assaults and deliberately concealed the facts.

According to reports, industry journalists had heard three years ago that a very famous African player in the UK, who played for one of the Premier League Big 6 clubs, was accused of sexually assaulting women, but due to the lack of solid evidence and pressure from his club at the time, journalists were unable to publicly insinuate that the player involved was Partey.

In fact, at the time, journalists from many media organizations believed that Arsenal had knowingly pressured journalists to conceal the facts of Partey's crimes despite knowing he had committed such serious crimes, which was a violation of women's safety and had no respect for the public's right to know. However, due to having disadvantages, journalists, media outlets and British women had no right to speak.

Now, as Partey's alleged sexual assault allegations against three women have been made public, as Arsenal tried to conceal the fact that the player had committed the crime, not only did they not immediately terminate his contract, but they continued to allow him to play for the club, they are even more worthy of being condemned by industry journalists, the media outlets and the public for serious their misconduct.

Journalists quoted insider information and revealed that Arsenal did intend to renew Partey's contract not long ago, and continued to deliberately conceal these facts as if nothing had happened, despite already knowing that he was suspected of multiple sexual crimes.

However, as the London Metropolitan Police seemed to be about to announce the fact that Partey was suspected of sexual crimes, the Gunners who realized that the truth could not be hidden anymore finally changed their position and refused to renew his contract.

The point was finally fully reflected in the fact that the player was announced as a suspected sexual offender by the police within a few hours after Arsenal officially announced that they had given up renewing Partey's contract.

The report also added that the reason why the newspaper's resident renowned transfer journalist David Ornstein has not updated Partey's contract renewal negotiation process with Arsenal for three months is related to this matter.

At the same time, this also explains one of the reasons why the Gunners actively wanted to and finally succeeded in lobbying and signing Real Sociedad's defensive midfielder Martin Zubimendi.

It is certain that at this time, Barcelona has never been interested in signing Partey since the summer of 2022 as some inferior media outlets have reported.

At the same time, industry journalists have never heard that Marseille is currently interested in extending an olive branch to the player.

Because the case has entered the judicial process, The Athletic stated that this is all they can currently grasp, reveal and report. The rest of the matter is inconvenient for reporters to make further comments because it may obstruct judicial justice.

Upon verification, it seems that even Alfie, British online media outlet HITC Sports' resident renowned English YouTuber, and MGH, a famous English YouTuber who is also a loyal fan of Arsenal, are among the public figures in football who have long suspected that Partey has been involved in the case since 2022.

Partey's suspected crime allegations were public revealed

Last Thursday (July 4, 2025) local time in the UK, the London Metropolitan Police issued a statement announcing that Thomas Partey was the Premier League player who was suspected of sexually assaulting multiple women in 2022, and was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.

According to reports from multiple media outlets, Partey was already jointly investigated by the English and Welsh and Wales Police as early as February 2022 for allegedly sexually assaulting three women.

The case occurred between 2021 and 2022, and all three victims have reported the case to the police.

After careful and rigorous investigation, the police have handed over the case and the results to the British Crown Prosecution Service, which has charged Partey with two counts of rape against the first victim, three counts of rape against the second victim and one count of sexual assault against the third victim.

Since the investigation began three years ago, Partey has always denied all crimes, and the British Crown Prosecution Service has reiterated that it will actively cooperate with the police, carefully examine every piece of evidence, and follow appropriate and legal legal channels to fairly try this case.

About Thomas Partey

Partey, 32, was born on June 13, 1993 in Krobo Odumase, Ghana. He is 1.85 meters tall and plays as a defensive midfielder.

Partey played for Leganes' youth academy when he was a child, and moved to Atlético Madrid's youth academy in 2012.

In July of the following year, Partey was loaned-out to Mallorca, and in July 2014, he was loaned-out to Almeria.

After returning to the club at the end of his loan spell in the summer of 2015, Partey completed his Atlético Madrid first-team debut by coming on as a substitute in November of the same year.

During his 7-year spell with Los Colchoneros, Partey won the Europa League once, the UEFA Super Cup once, and reached the Champions League final with the club once.

In October 2020, Partey joined Arsenal for £45 million.

During his five-year spell with the Gunners, Partey has played 167 times for the Premier League giants in all competitions so far, scoring 9 goals, assisting 7 times, and winning the English Community Shield with the club once.