Thomas Partey’s move to Arsenal has been all over the news in his homeland of Ghana. The fact that his signing was the top story on deadline day is a major source of pride for the West African nation.
No one is prouder of the midfielder than his father Jacob Partey. In a recent interview with Ghana based radio station Hot 93.9FM, he explained that the family had it tough early on. In order to help raise funds for his son to go abroad and achieve his footballing dream, the senior Partey resorted to selling his land and various properties.
Partey has come a long way since making the move to Europe in 2012. He is the oldest of eight children from the town of Krobo Odumase, about two hours north of the country’s capital Accra. As a child, his father ran a local football team which included Partey and his brother Frances.
Partey credits football scout Ernest Sogbodzor for truly helping him realize his dream. Sogbodzor was the one who tracked the player’s progress and was involved in securing his move to Atletico Madrid. Partey remains loyal to Sogdozor to this day.
In other Partey related news out of Ghana, it’s been revealed that the two youth teams he played for before moving to Spain will benefit from his signing with Arsenal. These clubs, Odometah and Tema Youth, are entitled to 5% of the transfer sum, which will amount to approximately $2.25 million.
If you are wondering why this is happening, here’s the full explanation as written in the FIFA rule book.
According to the Training Compensation section which is found in Article 20 of the FIFA transfer regulations:
“Training compensation shall be paid to a player’s training club(s): (1) when a player signs his first contract as a professional, and (2) each time a professional is transferred until the end of the season of his 23rd birthday. The obligation to pay training compensation arises whether the transfer takes place during or at the end of the player’s contract. The provisions concerning training compensation are set to U+t in Annexe 4 of these regulations.”
Tema Youth will be covered under the Solidarity Mechanism in Article 21 of the FIFA transfer regulations which states that:
“If a professional is transferred before the expiry of his contract, any club that has contributed to his education and training shall receive a proportion of the compensation paid to his former club (solidarity contribution). The provisions concerning solidarity contributions are set out in Annexe 5 of these regulations.”
The simple explanation is that since these clubs played a part in developing Partey as a player, they deserve to be compensated for his success.
Partey will join up with his new teammates following the current international break. Hopefully he will continue to make headlines in Ghana due to his future success in North London.