Thomas Partey has signed for the Saudi Pro League club Al Shabab after leaving Villarreal as a free agent, his contract there not renewed at its expiry. Al Shabab confirmed the move on Friday, describing Partey as a "legend" and saying the signing "just feels right."
The Ghana international leaves Villarreal after a single season, having joined from Arsenal, where he spent five years and made 167 appearances, scoring nine goals. Partey came through as an Atletico Madrid youth player and went on to make 188 appearances for Diego Simeone's side, winning the Europa League in 2018. He also picked up a La Liga winner's medal from Atletico's 2020-21 title campaign, having made enough appearances that season before his move to Arsenal.
Partey has won 60 caps for Ghana, scoring 15 goals, but this summer's World Cup was overshadowed by his exclusion from Ghana's tournament opener against Panama, where he was denied entry to Canada after wrongly telling officials he had never been arrested or charged with a crime, amid ongoing criminal proceedings in the UK. He was charged with seven counts of rape and one count of sexual assault relating to allegations by four different women in London between 2020 and 2022, and has pleaded not guilty to all of them. His trial at Southwark Crown Court, originally set for November, has been pushed back to start on 8 June 2027. The 33-year-old started Ghana's other three matches at the tournament, including a 0-0 draw with England and a 1-0 defeat to Colombia that eliminated the Black Stars in the round of 32.
At Al Shabab, who finished 13th in the Saudi Pro League last season and lost their opening match of this campaign, Partey joins the former Burnley captain Josh Brownhill and the ex-Wolves winger Daniel Podence, as well as Yannick Carrasco, his one-time teammate at Atletico.