Bring Torreira back to play for the Gunners

                                           

Mikel Arteta needs to bring back Lucas Torreira to play for Arsenal to help their Premier League push

By Adam Le Roux

The January transfer window is usually a time where clubs overspend to save their seasons, as they search for the special players that are going to make all the difference at the business end of the campaign - but sometimes the answers are right under your nose. 

Occasionally the players you need are still on your books, just not playing in the same country, playing in a team in red and white near the top of their league, rather than a team in red and white sitting in mid-table. 

Lucas Torreira is the man that fits the bill, with the Uruguayan currently on loan at La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid, while the Gunners are in desperate need of a bit of tenacity in the centre of the park. 

There are rumours of the diminutive midfielder being recalled from his temporary switch to the Wanda Metropolitano, only to be farmed back out to Fiorentina in Serie A. 

But why isn’t the 24-year-old even being considered for a spell back in the Arsenal first team, especially considering his impact on games for the last two years? 

Why doesn’t Lucas get a look in?

Torreira seems to be another player to add to the list that Mikel Arteta immediately didn’t warm to as he stepped up into the role of manager in December 2019, with the 24-year-old deemed surplus to requirements ahead of the new campaign. 

It still comes as something of a mystery to many Arsenal fans, after the combative South American was regularly one of the best performers for the Gunners in the last two seasons. 

The midfielder’s tenacity was by far his greatest asset. Opponents were rarely given space to breathe when they had the ball in the final third, with the Uruguayan nipping at their heels the second they got possession. 

It is no surprise to see that is exactly the area that Arsenal have been weak in this season, with opposing teams carving open the side all too easily, and being given the time and space to do so.

 

The Gunners were calling out for someone who could take the game by the scruff of the neck in the last few months of 2020, as they tasted success just once in 10 Premier League matches before Christmas. 

And that is exactly what Torreira gives the team, that added bit of impetus and willingness to win the ball back for his side and kickstart counter attacks when the opposition are exposed. 

In fairness, this is what we all expect to see from Thomas Partey, who went the other way in the summer and moved to the Emirates, but the Ghanaian’s injury woes have scuppered the prospect of that happening anytime soon. 

And it’s not like Torreira is even featuring much for Atletico this season anyway, with just two La Liga starts to his name alongside a number of substitute appearances in the Champions League. 

So why isn’t he being recalled from the Spanish capital immediately and filling the void in the centre of the park? Most likely due to Arteta’s stubbornness. 

The Spaniard has made a number of big decisions in his year in the hotseat at the Emirates, but his unwillingness to give any leeway on these calls will no doubt come back to haunt him soon. 

Torreira joins Mesut Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi on the Gunners’ blacklist as we head into 2021, with his chances of a reprieve from the manager looking slimmer by the day. 

It’s easy to forget what an impact the midfielder had on the team in the past two seasons, with his performances often going under the radar as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette took the headlines more often than not. 

But you don’t get a Europa League final appearance under your belt, as well as featuring for your country at a World Cup at the age of 23, for nothing. Torreira should still be plying his trade in London, rather than Madrid or Florence. 

Two years of Torreira

The Uruguayan was taken under the wing of the Arsenal faithful right from the off after his move to London from Sampdoria in 2018, as he produced exactly the sort of hungry performances the Emirates crowd love to see. 

Fighting for every ball, hassling every opposition player, he was a fan favourite before you know it, becoming the spark in the midfield that made Arsenal tick alongside Granit Xhaka. 

And after his strike in the 4-2 North London Derby victory over Tottenham, the Uruguayan looked destined for stardom in a red and white shirt, as he thrived off the electric atmosphere. 

From there he went from strength to strength, and became a mainstay in the Gunners engine room for the next year and half, until an ankle injury set him back in March last year. 

And even despite making a return when football came back after lockdown in 2020, Torreira’s face didn’t seem to fit in the Arsenal dressing room, with Arteta shipping him out to Spain quick sharp. 

But instead of wheeling and dealing in the search of new arrivals this month, the Spaniard could do little better than someone who is already contracted to the club. Given the time and opportunity to do so, Torreira could flourish once again at the Emirates.

Photo Credit: Getty Images