jones It's a bit of a false comparison. Partey is off because he didn't like the amount or duration of our contract offer, and we're letting him go because he's less useful when not starting, injury prone, and we're renewing his position in the starting line-up.
Sure if Zubimendi is injured or in bad form there's an arguable downside, and I fully expect we'll see Partey advocates saying he's not as good even on a few days he does fine, let alone makes an error.
But if Zubimendi isn't injured and is in form, signing a sub-elite contender to backfill Partey's departure congests the squad in one of the areas of the pitch we have bona fide Hale End talents, and also necessitates a higher risk, prolonged market search, when after all it seems the decision on Partey's future is a day old. Whereas now if someone like Jorginho pops up, we could make our move from a position of strength.
