After spending the 2020-21 season with the Spanish club Athletico Madrid and helping them win the La Liga this season, Lucas Torreira is now looking to make a permanent exit from the Gunners and move to the Italian club Lazio for £49.5k-a-week contract as the Le Aquile (The Eagles) are looking to pay Arsenal two installments of £8.6 million over the next two years for the Uruguayan midfielder.
About the Player
Lucas Torreira is a 25-year old Uruguayan midfielder who currently plays for Atletico Madrid as a loanee from Arsenal. He was born on 11th February 1996
Still, he spent his 2015-16 season with his previous club Pescara as a loanee for some first-team experience and made a total of 29 appearances and also scored 4 goals during that time. Torreira debuted and became a regular starter for the Serie A side Sampdoria in the 2016-17 season and then gone on to make a total of 71 appearances for the team and scored a total of 4 goals during his time.
Then, On 10th July 2018, Torreira signed for the Gunners for an undisclosed fee which at that time was believed to be around £26 million. He made his Premier League debut in the 2018-19 season and then gone on to make 63 appearances for the club and scored 3 goals during that spell before eventually being loaned out to the La Liga side Atletico Madrid.
What went wrong for him at Arsenal?
Lucas Torreira was signed by Unai Emery in 2018 as a solution to Arsenal’s midfield problems. He had a fantastic start to his Arsenal career as he made himself a fan favorite player by his energetic and committed style of play which was not seen by any other player on the team post-Wenger era. He was a base midfielder who recovered and kept possession of the ball at a consistent rate and helped the team move forward with the ball and attack. But eventually, his form declined when Emery ordered the Uruguayan to play as a box-to-box midfielder as Granit Xhaka would play the defensive midfielder role, which Torreira was not comfortable with. And because of that, he had a drastic dip in his performance which ultimately resulted in losing his position as a regular starter for the team.
Although since the arrival of Mikel Arteta, Torreira once again had a hope of playing as a starter once again as Arteta told the Uruguayan Midfielder that he had him in his plans for the team and would like to give him a place in the starting XI but an unfortunate fracture to his ankle and the arrival of Dani Ceballos from Real Madrid at loan saw Torreira once again losing his position in the Arsenal starting line-up till the end of the 2019-20 season and then, getting loaned out to Athletico Madrid for the 2020-21 season.
In short, Arsenal bought Lucas Torreira to solve their Midfield problems, and for the time that he played for the Gunners, he proved to the coach and the fans that he is a capable player who solves their problem but an unfamiliar positional change and an unlucky injury put his Arsenal career in a slip. He could have been a great midfield player for Arsenal but was never trusted and was replaced by Granit Xhaka and Dani Ceballos during his time in North London.
What does he bring to the table for the team?
Lucas Torreira is one of the best midfield prospects in modern football and he is still just 25 years old which means he is still young and has a great career ahead of him. His qualities as a midfielder are his athleticism, quickness, tidiness in possession, and defensive awareness and instincts which help in recovering ball possessions. He reads and understands the game well and is able to anticipate where the threat will come from with a wonderful positional sense and can also keep a calm head in pressure situations. Also, he is a great team player and looks to help the team in both offense and defense.
If he can get a team that trusts in him and give him the position that he likes to play in the field, he can become a great asset to that team and Lazio is one such team that needs his services and are willing to trust in him and give him a position in the starting line-up. The 25-year old Uruguayan will make a comeback in Serie A by playing for Lazio and the Italian club will only expect great performances from him and help the team reach new heights.
