Charles Watts says neither he nor his source in Madrid can confirm the recent story that Thomas Partey is signing an extension with Atletico.

In the last few days, we covered reports of a story from Ghana claiming Thomas Partey would ‘snub’ Arsenal to sign a contract extension with Atletico Madrid. Although, even at the time, we pointed out there were a couple of reports directly conflicting with that information.

Goal’s Charles Watts only added to the doubt around the story with a video on his YouTube channel. The journalist addressed the story and said that whilst he couldn’t ‘rubbish’ it, he also hadn’t heard anything to support it.

“They (GhanaSoccerNet) have been told that he (Partey) is about to sign a new contract with Atletico. Snub a move to Arsenal and stay with Atletico,” Watts said.

“Interesting timing that this story is doing the rounds. Just after Arsenal look like they’ve ruined their chances of European football.

“As far as I’m aware, I haven’t heard anything to back that story up. I spoke to someone in Madrid who I know well…who is close to Thomas Partey’s representatives and he hadn’t been able to confirm it either.”

As Watts points out, this doesn’t necessarily mean the report isn’t true. However, the fact that no other source is backing it up, plus the few days that have passed since their claim of an ‘imminent’ extension, suggest they may not have got it right this time.

Partey is playing on with Atletico for the time being, scoring against Getafe on Thursday. He had to disable his Instagram comments afterwards, presumably thanks to all the intense speculation around his future. So maybe leave him be, until the season is over.