Reports: Arsenal offer Atletico Madrid three players in bid to sign Thomas Partey

Arsenal have reportedly offered three first-team players to Atletico Madrid, with the Gunners stepping up their efforts to sign Ghanaian midfielder Thomas Partey.

According to the Daily Star, Arsenal have offered Alexandre Lacazette, Hector Bellerin, and Lucas Torreira to Atletico Madrid in an exchange deal for Partey. But their efforts have been futile so far.

Atletico are reportedly not interested in doing an exchange deal and are unlikely to budge from their stance of needing hard cash in any deal that is done for Partey.

Thomas sigue siendo el objetivo nº1 del @Arsenal de ahí que hayan sonado nombres como los de Bellerín, Lacazette o Torreira para entrar en la operación. Sin embargo, el Atlético de Madrid exige los € 50 M de su cláusula. Lo de William es fácil porque acaba contrato con Chelsea. pic.twitter.com/WQ2g3fmjpM

— Kike Marin** (@Kike_Marin_) August 9, 2020

Arsenal are short on cash this summer and will need to find creative ways of doing deals if they are to sign players in this window. This comes on the back of the Gunners announcing the relieving of 55 club staff from their duties last week.

The financial situation at Arsenal has been slightly improved by their FA Cup victory, which brought with it a guaranteed spot in the group stages of the UEFA Europa League.

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Partey's arrival could be pivotal to Arteta's plans at the Emirates next season

Thomas Partey could be on the move this summer

Lacazette has found himself in and out of the Arsenal starting XI under Mikel Arteta since the Spaniard took over in late December. Arteta has sometimes opted to play his youngsters, such as Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah, in his attack ahead of Lacazette.

The Frenchman has been linked with the LaLiga club for a few years now, even as Arteta recently praised Lacazette and what he brought to his Arsenal side.

“Why would I want to lose a player like him? I'm really happy with him. I really like Alex, I said that even before I joined here that he is the type of striker that I really like," Arteta said.

The Spaniard continued:

"I think he had periods where he was very unlucky because he was having the chances and not converting them which he is not used to.

“But the way he can link play, he's a massive competitor he hates to lose. He goes for every ball, you see in every challenge how he's ready to go," Arteta said.

“He works really hard and he's a very intelligent player, I am really happy with him.”

Arsenal begin their commitments for the 2020-21 season with the FA Community Shield on August 30 against Liverpool at Wembley.

With the Premier League season set to begin on September 12, Arteta will hope to have a few new signings in place before then. The Spaniard has already made it clear that the Arsenal board will have to back him financially, in order to take the next step in their progress.