The Athletic reported on Thursday, citing sources from the Crown Prosecution Service, that former Arsenal Ghanaian international defensive midfielder Thomas Partey, who is currently playing for Villarreal, has been charged with two additional counts of rape.

According to the report, both additional charges concern Partey's alleged sexual assault of another woman.

A recent investigation by the London Metropolitan Police revealed that police received a report from the victim in August 2025, suggesting the incident may have occurred in 2020.

Including these additional charges, Partey will face a total of seven counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.

Partey will be summoned again to the London Magistrates' Court on March 13 for a new hearing regarding the charges.

Regarding the additional rape charges against Partey, his lawyer, Jenny Wiltshire, stated in an interview that the player maintains his innocence and will not respond while the trial is ongoing.

Partey was first summoned to the London Magistrates' Court in August 2025 for his first hearing on the charges.

At that time, the court granted Partey to join Villarreal on conditional bail and play for the La Liga club.

Partey's Suspected Crimes

On July 4, 2025, 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 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 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.

His club allegedly withheld information

Weeks later, The Athletic exclusively reported that 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.

The report also added that David Ornstein, the newspaper's resident transfer reporter, had stopped updating on Partey's contract negotiations with Arsenal for three months because of this matter.

As 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 investigation, it appears that even Alfie, British online media outlet HITC Sports' prominent English YouTuber, and MGH, a prominent English YouTuber and a staunch Arsenal fan, are among the British football figures who have long suspected Partey of involvement in the case since 2022.

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 won the English Community Shield once with the Premier League giants.

In August 2025, Partey joined Villarreal on a free transfer.

Since joining El Submarino Amarillo, Partey has made 21 appearances for the La Liga club in all competitions, and has yet to score a goal or provide an assist.

Image source: Internet / The Athletic archive photo