Arsenal’s transition in the post-Arsene Wenger era is off to a decent start. They have already signed a couple of players in Stephan Lichtsteiner and Bernd Leno and are also close to landing a few other stars from Europe. One such player, who was expected to join the club soon is Lucas Torreira.
A product of the Pescara academy, Torreira established himself as a star with Sampdoria, where he first moved to, back in 2015. He was loaned out to Pescara for the first season and ever since making his debut in Genoa, he has been a mainstay in the first team, making 36 and 35 appearances in the last two seasons.
He registered four goals and an assist from the midfield in the domestic league last season and has attracted quite a few clubs from Europe this summer. However, Unai Emery, Sven Mislintat and Arsenal were quick to make an approach and were expected to announce him as their next signing, not so long ago.
With reports suggesting that English international Jack Wilshere has decided to quit the club as a free agent this summer, the Uruguayan international was expected to be a replacement for Wilshere. However, Torreira has now given Arsenal fans another headache.
He is currently in Russia on national duty in the World Cup and speaking the media after a recent game, he was reluctant to confirm a move to Arsenal. He has a release clause of just £22m and reports from Sky suggested that Arsenal were ready to pay £26.4m in instalments for his move this summer.
However, when asked about the same, “No, I don’t know [if he is an Arsenal player],” said Torreira. “At the moment, the most important thing is playing for my country,” he added.
He went on to claim that “Arsenal are a good team, one of the most important in the world” but maintained that his focus now is on the World Cup. He came off the bench in the 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia earlier this week, before this interview. So do Arsenal seem to be missing out on the 22-year old?
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The Gunners are now extensively linked with a move for Sevilla star Ever Banega. The experienced Argentine international has a release clause of just €20m and is more established than Torreira. Fans will want to believe that the 31-year old is only wanted as a backup and if the Torreira deal fails but at the moment, they might not be able to land either, till the end of the World Cup. So this might be one of those never-ending transfer stories, we seem to find every summer. Do you think Arsenal will be able to land Torreira?
