Chelsea 'were unable to move for Thomas Partey after failing to offload players'

Chelsea reportedly missed out on competing for Thomas Partey's signature after failing to offload several of their fringe players.

Arsenal announced late on Monday evening that they had won the race to sign the Atletico Madrid midfielder in a £45m deal.

Despite other clubs being linked with the Ghana international, the Gunners eventually had a free run to wrap up the transfer of the 27-year-old.

According to The Telegraph, Chelsea had to end their interest in the player due to their struggles to free up space on their wage bill.

While the Blues were able to arrange loan exits for Tiemoue Bakayoko and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, the likes of Marcos Alonso, Emerson Palmieri, Antonio Rudiger, Fikayo Tomori and Danny Drinkwater all remained at Stamford Bridge.