During the FA Cup third-round penalty shootout against Manchester United, Thomas Partey sent the ball toward the spot but was met with deafening boos. A closer listen to the crowd accompanying the jeers made the reason almost certain.
Four days earlier—on January 8—a complete evidence file was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), when an as-yet-unnamed player potentially faced charges.
However, Arsenal has continued to field the £200,000-a-week midfield linchpin, just as it has since the Daily Telegraph first disclosed details of an unidentified Premier League player's arrest in July 2022.
No athlete has ever participated in so many high-stakes matches and continued their career uninterrupted while under active police investigation.
Due to legal constraints, the media—including any broadcasters at Arsenal's home games—were barred from disclosing his name until the CPS confirmed the charges this Friday.
Despite Arsenal's efforts to maintain normalcy, his name had already circulated widely on social media. Inflammatory chants in stadiums grew increasingly frequent during the Premier League title race and even the World Cup.
To prevent his name from being revealed through opposing fans' taunts and chants each week nationwide, broadcasters were forced to mute the audio.
From Arsenal's perspective, continuing to play him now appears a counterproductive gamble. After defying MPs and women's groups, the club has won no trophies during this period to appease fans. His arrest also sparked concerns about other high-profile actions by the English police involving top footballers, unrelated to this case.
With several cases still pending, the Premier League has since mandated consent training for players and staff.
Behind the scenes, however, there were never signs that Thomas might be suspended or even quietly excluded from pre-season tours.
Days after his initial arrest, he missed a pre-season match in Germany in July, where Arsenal beat Nuremberg 5-3. But he continued playing whenever fit, even joining the club's main pre-season tour in the U.S. just three weeks later.
Criminal charges will shock Europe and his native Africa. Spotted in Ghana's second-tier league at 18, he moved to Atlético Madrid, quickly emerging in La Liga. After loans to Mallorca and Almería, he returned to Atlético as a midfield mainstay, featuring in the 2016 UEFA Champions League final against
Real Madrid and winning the Europa League and UEFA Super Cup in 2018.
Even in the years since his arrest, he has faced little upheaval on or off the pitch. Alongside key roles for Ghana at the 2022 Qatar World Cup and Arsenal, he engaged to partner Jenny Maxson, with their first child born months later. He previously married Moroccan radiologist and model Sara Bella in 2022 but they separated a year later.
After eventful years on and off the pitch, only one date looms: his August 5 appearance at Westminster Magistrates' Court.
