Arsenal have a decision to make over one of their key stars ahead of next summer, with Thomas Partey out of contract as things stand. The 31-year-old has been a key for Mikel Arteta this season, showing his best form in some time to aid the Gunners in their solid start to the campaign as reported by londonworld.com.

Partey has been relied upon heavily alongside Declan Rice, though it’s unclear whether his playing time will reduce now that summer signing Mikel Merino has returned from his shoulder injury. Either way, Partey has an important role to play going forward, with the long and busy season likely to have Arteta use much of his squad between now and the end of May.

As things stand, Partey’s deal is up at the end of the season, making him eligible to agree a pre-contract agreement with any club outside of England from January 1. The only way Arsenal can prevent that is by agreeing a sale in January, or agreeing a new contract.

There have been rumours of interest from Partey’s former club Atletico Madrid and another La Liga giant in Barcelona, and if there are interested clubs, the midfielder is likely to be offered a two-year deal. That could cause a headache for the Gunners, who may only be willing to offer a one-year extension if they offer one at all, given their midfield depth with Merino and Ethan Nwaneri and Partey’s age.

According to transfer ‘insider’ Fabrizio Romano, though, talk of interest from elsewhere has not materialised just yet, but contract talks are equally absent. “Another player I expect to stay at his club at least until the end of the season is Thomas Partey,” he told CaughtOffside.

“There are no movements planned for January. For the summer, we will see; no decision has been made yet on his contract situation, but I’m not aware of any contact with Atletico or Barca for the January window.”