Earlier this evening The Guardian newspaper announced that Arsenal have a deal in place to sign Sampdoria midfielder Lucas Torreira.

It’s believed that the Gunners are willing to spend over £26m to bring the Uruguayan international to the Emirates.

The North London side will be hoping to conclude the transfer before the player represents his country at this summer’s World Cup in Russia.

The move makes sense as Torreira was one of Serie A’s more consistent defensive midfielders last term and that’s a position that new Arsenal boss Unai Emery knows that he needs to strengthen.

His performances for La Samp last season have seen the twenty-two year old win his first three caps for his national team this year and his call-up for the biggest international competition on earth.

He’s a tenacious player who definitely likes a tackle, and enjoys making plenty of them! In his last campaign at Sampdoria he averaged 2.8 tackles per game in thirty-six league outings and two interceptions per game also.

His concentration levels are high and that will be an upgrade on Granit Xhaka, who makes far too many defensive mistakes due to a lack of concentration at the right times. Torreira diligently goes about his task of defending first and marshalling in front of the defence.

Technically he’s also very sound and that will have attracted him to Emery. He had a very good passing success average of 87%. The Uruguayan is a player that likes to get on the ball and find his teammates with plenty of well-timed, accurate passes. It’s not just sideaway passes either, the youngster can go direct and start attacks with his fine passing range.

He also has a decent eye for goal, scoring four times from midfield last season. Lucas is also good from set-play situations and that’s alway helpful in the Premier League.

Size might be seen as an issue, as he’s only five foot five. So he doesn’t win many in the air but that could be where a proactive defender can come into his own, one like Sokratis Papastathopoulos who’s aso being linked with a summer move to the Emirates.

Sampdoria boss Marco Giampaolo believes if he were that bit taller then he’d be one of the most wanted players in the game:

“If Torreira were 1.8 metres tall, he would already cost €100million and would be considered among the strongest playmakers in the world,”

It should be noted that top Italian sides Juventus, Napoli and Inter Milan were all credited with a serious interest in the defensive midfielder.

After four seasons in Italy, it now seems like London and Arsenal are going to be his next destination. If the club can get the deal over the line and he can reach his potential with the Gunners, then it looks like they’ve bought a quality player and at a bargain price.

Posted on June 12th, 2018 by scott
Filed under: Article