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Football London
Football London
Sport
Tashan Deniran-Alleyne & James Benge

Arsenal behind the scenes: Saka contract concern, Partey deal and Aubameyang latest

Another weekend is upon, but there's no north London derby taking place for Arsenal as originally planned.

The 2019/20 season has been suspended indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic, and the latest report is that Premier League clubs remain keen on finishing the campaign - once it's safe to do so.

However, the Eredivisie have become the first major European division to decide against crowning a league champion for the 2019/20 season and that might impact the rest of Europe.

James Benge on Aubameyang's transfer fee, Thomas Partey and Saka's future

With that said, there is still plenty going on away from the Emirates Stadium which gave our correspondent James Benge plenty to discuss during a Facebook live Q&A session on Friday afternoon.

Topics ranged from the inevitable transfer talk to Bukayo Saka's contract situation and what's going on with club captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

But the big question was about Thomas Partey and if rumours of him joining the Gunners this summer was true.

"Joining Arsenal, that's really jumping the gun there," James Benge says. "Arsenal want a combative, powerful midfielder who can dominate play in the middle area, can make contributions in both boxes and win the ball back.

"Partey ticks all those boxes. A fantastic player, he's got a release clause that a club like Arsenal would look at and say that's within their financial means under normal circumstances. It's about £43.5m.

"So much is up in the air in terms of this transfer right now though. You have his contract talks with Atletico Madrid. Atletico would want to keep him. You have the simple reality of coronavirus which means Arsenal are in no position to make any big financial commitments like that just yet.

"If they qualify for the Champions League that money might become available."

Other topics touched on Arsenal's centre-back targets ahead of the summer transfer window amid links to Axel Disasi and whether fans should forgive Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie.

To view the Q&A in its entirety, watch the video towards the top of this story.

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