The lack of football that Thomas Partey has been able to play has led to increasing calls for a plan to be put in place regarding moving on from the Ghanaian. He has missed the majority of the season with both a groin and now a thigh issue.

He is part of a midfield group which is blessed with experience. Partey is 30 years old himself whilst Jorginho and Mohamed Elneny are 31.

In Mikel Arteta’s pre-West Ham United press conference, I asked the Arsenal manager for football.london of the importance players of this age bracket have when building a squad. With the midfield being where the older players are concentrated, I was curious if this played a part.

“It is. I think age is something, but the experiences that those boys have and the human qualities of those are exceptional. You mention Mo [Elneny], the way he lived those six, seven minutes after ten months out, the way everybody looks at him is fundamental for me.

"I always said he is one of the most important players even when he’s not playing every week.”

What the three aforementioned players also have in common outside of their age bracket is of course the length of time remaining on their contracts. Jorginho and Elneny will see their deals expire this summer, although the Italian has the option to extend for a further year, whilst Partey enters the final year of his time with the club in the summer.

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That is a lot of experience to lose all at once but despite asking whether this can be developed or signed, Arteta was quick to remind me that it can also be "maintained", as he put it. Hinting that any of the three could indeed stay longer with the club should they choose to renew their deals.

He did however explain he would be a key part of the decision-making process, be that for new players or new contracts. The consistent theme though was the importance that the players bring to the squad with their qualities.

“For sure, and I will be part of the plan. I think it’s something critical for our squad and as well the way the squad is designed and the profiles we have that we always have players there that can be role models on the field. But very important as well that those players can as well be respected for what they do on the pitch and we have a few of them that are really good.”

Without question, the Arsenal team has experience which does not simply relate to an age with a number three at the start. Martin Odegaard for instance was been playing senior football since his mid-teenage years, starred for Real Madrid and is now a club captain at 24 years of age.

Leandro Trossard provides plenty of Premier League experience to the younger attacking players whilst Kai Havertz has a Champions League-winning goal to his name and William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes are bordering on being regular starters for their countries who operate at the top of the international scene.

Even young Bukayo Saka has now taken the armband for the start of a Premier League match whilst Oleksandr Zinchenko wears it for his country. Arteta is blessed with plenty of experience and perhaps his use of the word “maintained” can also be related to the younger aspects of his group which have an understated experience too.