Arsenal technical director Edu has revealed that the Gunners identified Thomas Partey as a transfer target earlier this year and his arrival was the culmination of a long-term plan.

Mikel Arteta's side signed the midfielder from Atletico Madrid on transfer deadline day after agreeing to meet the £45m release clause in his contract at the Wanda Metropolitano.

There have been suggestions that Arsenal only moved for Thomas after missing out on Lyon's Houssem Aouar, but Edu has insisted that the Ghana international was always a priority target.

"One day I would like to show the fans how we work, or how we worked, because if you saw my plan six or seven months ago when I did it with Mikel (Arteta), Thomas was there already," Edu told Arsenal's official website. "So you see how many months we had to try to find the right player for the club.

"So many things to do, so many meetings, we had to see how we were going to buy the player, if we had the financial situation to buy the player, the legal process, the financial process, talk to the player, talk to the agent, so there are a lot of things around this but in the end we did it!"

Thomas represented Atletico on 188 occasions between 2015 and 2020, scoring 16 times and providing 12 assists.