Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has stated that Partey's transfer fee has invited more pressure on him to perform.
The Ghanaian joined the Gunners for €50 million during the 2020 summer transfer window but has struggled with injuries so far.
He has already missed about 10 games due to injury at Arsenal. When Arteta was asked about the extra pressure on the former Atletico Madrid player, he answered in the affirmative.
“He knows how much he cost and that adds a bit of pressure."
“When you are not able to play you want to hurry up and do everything quicker, and show everybody how good you are and have a big impact on the team."
“That creates some anxiety for sure. Then the physical aspect, when you look at the outputs he needs to put in when he was playing in Spain or now, are pretty different.”
He added that he hopes Partey recovers from his latest injury.
"Hopefully we can still see Thomas back and playing at the level he can do."
“Last time we gave him more time to recover and he came back in good shape, but he was not fit enough to sustain that for 90 minutes.
“That is why we kept subbing him and trying to protect him. I think he has played 90 only once since coming back from injury.
“Now we have to protect him, make sure that he is fit and ready to come back as soon as possible – but knowing that we need the player long term as well.”
Partey is expected to miss Arsenal's Europa league clash with Benfica.