According to the BBC’s David Ornstein, Arsenal will complete the signing of Lucas Torreira from Sampdoria next week.
As we all know the transfer has been in the pipeline for some time, and now that Uruguay have been eliminated from the World Cup, the deal can be made official.
Arsenal hope to complete Lucas Torreira deal next week. Agreed with Sampdoria & 22yo. Medical + signing imminent – depends if he flies straight from #WorldCup to London or via #URU Finishes 1st team recruitment but a younger player for future also likely before window shuts #AFC pic.twitter.com/LHkXid7Rda
— David Ornstein (@bbcsport_david) July 6, 2018
Interestingly, that apparently completes our first team recruitment, which seems to rule out moves for another defender. We’ve been strongly linked with Freiburg’s Caglar Soyuncu, so unless someone else goes out that appears to be that, although there is mention of bringing in a young player for the future.
Arsenal had hoped to bring in Yacin Adli from PSG, but he was tempted into signing professional terms with the Ligue 1 side, so perhaps a player of that age bracket might be what we’re after.
Arsenal transfer business so far:
Bernd Leno – £22.5m
Sokratis Papastathopoulos – £16m
Stephan Lichtsteiner – Free
The fee for Torreira is believed to be in the region of £26m, which would bring our total spend thus far to £64.5m.
Having spent £55m on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January, that’s an outlay in the last 6 months or so of £119.5m, so we suspect we’re very much in sell before we buy again territory.
Anyway, let’s see what happens. There are likely to be some departures of fringe players throughout the month, the likes of Carl Jenkinson, Joel Campbell, Cohen Bramall, Emi Martinez, and Chuba Akpom should all be on the move.
Unai Emery also has a decision to make about the inclusion of Lucas Perez who has returned from a season long loan at Deportivo la Coruna, while David Ospina is widely tipped to depart for first team football after the signing of Leno, with [every club in Turkey] interested.
I’d love to see this crossing bartween Makelele and Pitbull in our squad. Very impressive during the World Cup
Indeed he was but I’m so intrigued to see how we’ll use him. Will he be a DM with Xhaka and Ramsey alongside him? Or do we play Ozil as a 10 and have 2 midfielders behind, we know Xhaka and Ramsey pairing isn’t defensively solid enough, would it work with toreira and one of Xhaka or Ramsey? Is AMN the savior?
For once we don’t know what to expect, I’m really excited for the season to come and just about fed up not having League football, bring on the new season already! COYG!!!
For the first time in a long time we have DEPTH and OPTIONS! Excited to see what the Bullish Basque can do with these parts and pieces.
To find out the answer of this drama, watch next season of epl ????
Good business, and v encouraged to see most positions filled are the ones Wenger seemed to ignore for so long. Not it’s time for the PURGE.
Carl Jenkinson, Joel Campbell, Cohen Bramall, Emi Martinez, and Chuba Akpom.
Should realise about £27.50 for that lot.
still taking snipes at wenger…sad little man.
And I see we’re still taking swipes at fellow supporters as well… ?
Wasn’t a snipe, he just stated a fact.
Wenger did ignore the defensive midfield position and squad depth when the inevitable injuries came haunting in Feb.
This is a refreshing change, so bring it on.
Wenger was the best manager Arsenal have had (in the modern-era). What he did four club, will only be fully realised in years to come. In my opinion, he (and those that supported him) ignored the mostly defensive positions in the squad that fans, pundits and inanimate carbon rod could see we needed to address in past 7-8 years. What’s annoying is the team he moulded within 2 yrs of taking over and the awesome invincible squad he built, so he he knows craft, steel and firepower is needed. I was not sniping, just stating my opinion, which you agree… Read more »
*now it’s time
I hate you auto clunge basket
Sky sports are saying we are in talks with N’Zonzi. Probably not reliable?
Ornstein is always reliable
however Sky are usually quite reliable too (unless you read all the dross they report from other sources in the ‘transfer centre’)
confusing
I’m confused as well
Sky are not at all reliable.
Probably just NZonzi’s agent trying to get him a better contract.
I disagree although in this case Ornstein says Torreira is it. Ornstein is very reliable.
I just can’t see us paying 30m for him- especially as he would likely be a squad player. I only see is adding another seniorish midfielder if Ramsey leaves in which case we need a different type of player
Depends how Emery wants to play
I think N’Zonzi would be a possible replacement if Rambo doesn’t sign and Soyuncu would come in if we‘re able to sell on Mustafi. Pretty sure there will be quite a few players leaving and also some coming in in exchange. Gelson Martins could for example join if we decide to sell on Welbeck, as he too enters the final year of his contract. But until now (considering Torreira signs) we’ve just added additional numbers and quality to positions in which we have been a bit short.
2 DMs could be useful, particularly against the stronger teams. Also depth is a nice thing to have. Might give the attacking players a better platform to do their thing.
Even with Torreira it’s hard to say we’ve definitely upgraded our midfield. He won’t suddenly turn Ramsey and Xhaka into a functional midfield partnership on his own, especially as he’s due a little World Cup hangover during the season. We have to keep on eye on the way our rivals are strengthening too. It’s not enough just to fill squad holes – we need to bridge that 30 point gap. And let’s remember Ramsey only starts on avg 21-23 games a season. N’zonzi would need no time adjusting to the Prem or to Emery’s style of play. Considering our away… Read more »
“He won’t suddenly turn Ramsey and Xhaka into a functional midfield partnership on his own” Well, exactly this is what I think he will do. Both have their qualities but have been left exposed defensively due to the 3 man midfield in which they played behind Özil instead of in front of Torreira. That would make a huge difference and I’m pretty optmistic that Torreira will be the perfect guy for that role. N’zonzi wouldn’t need time to adjust to the PL as he has played in there for years and he wouldn’t need time to adjust to Emerys style… Read more »
Yeah we’re saying the same thing about N’zonzi. With Ramsey we need to be clear-eyed about his injury history and how many games he misses a season. He’s a 20-25, not a 35 game a season player, and I doubt Torreira will play 30 league games in his first Premier League season. Very optimistic that he’ll succeed, but we could do with another solid option there even if it’s not N’zonzi. I get your point about accommodating Ozil with Ramsey and Xhaka. All three are superb offensive players with clear and obvious defensive and positioning flaws. Those guys have to… Read more »
I’m not sure if we can accommodate Ramsey, Xhaka and Ozil in the same team, unless we sacrifice one of Mkhi, Auba or Laca. Wenger tried this and it worked well in some games but it leaves Xhaka and the back 4 pretty exposed.
From an attacking pov we also have Welbeck and Iwobi who are pretty flexible, and the young players. If Ramsey leaves I can see why we might be thinking about a more defensive replacement.
Interesting if this is the end of our summer business. Would of liked to see another winger come in. Maybe another signing might come in if a player goes out? Joel Campbell we’re looking at you unfortunately.
Would like to see us in for Zaha. I haven’t heard any rumours but the press are today reporting he wants to move ( I suspect sitting at home watching the world cup and realising he needs a bigger club has brought it on!) Think he would be a great fit, premier league proven wide forward, young, home grown, bags of talent and work rate.
I like him. We literally have no pacey, tricky wingers anymore. Childhood Gooner as well. Only thing is there’s rumours Spuds enquiries about him but we’re frightened off with Palace’s reported £70m price tag. And we’re apparently even tighter than Spuds so…
I’d like to see Zaha produce his form for Palace somewhere else before I’d be interested.
His career to date makes him look suspiciously like one of those players who only produces the goods for one club.
Maybe Nelson or Emile Smith-Rowe will get a chance to impress on the wing
Eddie did rather well on the wing for England in the last U21s tournament as well, so that’s at least 3 youth options.
Or does Emery see Lucas Perez as an option in that position? Just a wild guess since much of his success was in Spanish league which is all too familiar for Emery.
Lucas may play this season, he’s been prominent in training already
From what I’ve seen, he will be an excellent signing for us and is the one player we’ve brought in that I am really looking forward to seeing play. He appears to have that combination of defensive cover with an Edu like ability to pick a pass.
If we offload the fringe players we have, I still think we can get / afford one more quality signing.
Looking good ?.
Good at set piece deliveries as well.
What impressed the most, in the games he played for Uruguay ( I won’t claim to have seen him play in Serie A), was how he is constantly looking at the opposition players, and adjusting his position. At one point yesterday, he made to push forward, saw Griezmann was unmarked closer to the box, and decided to stay back and position himself to intercept balls to Griezmann. Really impressed with his reading of the play, and his set-pieces are pretty handy as well
I am very happy with this signing as he looks like the type of player we have been missing for years. He was very good yesterday v France.
I hope the new manager is given time as Arsenal was a mess last season and will take time to sort out. At least he looks to try to sort out the defence which is terrible and has been for a while now.
we always had a useful lucas
Why include Auba transfer fees with this transfer window?
It was funded by the January window sales, Giroud, Walcott, Coq… etc
The club hardly spent any money in that transfer.
Don’t forget we hadn’t spent the Ox money till then as well. I don’t know where this restricted budget thing comes from every window. Even last season we just spent 50 mil on Lacazette as Kolasinac was free. I know it’s about the value and not the amount but still we should be in the market for players of higher value. I’m not saying we should go all City and utd in the window but recently even clubs like Liverpool, Everton etc are outspending us. With the new TV deals everyone knows all clubs have the money so this restricted… Read more »
Liverpool sell big and then buy. Our sales are tiny compared to theirs in recent years.
He plays like an on form Coquelin but with better passing range.
I love myself some Coq. But, I’d dare to say he’s better in positioning, tackling, and reading of the game than Coq as well. A Coq on steroids if you will.
Coquelin’s 2015 season was as good as any dm in recent history. His per game stats trumped Matic’s in just about every category, and the latter was considered one of the best in Europe at the time.
Yeah Coquelin was really always dreadfully under-rated by the Arsenal fans because of the type of player he is (much like Giroud)
We under-rated Coquelin? Nope.
The partnership he formed with Cazorla is acknowledged as the best midfield partnership we’ve had in nearly 10 years.
Had a great World Cup though I found it weird that the dm was taking all the set plays.
If he’s capable it makes great sense – it leaves the attackers to attack the goal. Not to mention he’s not exactly vertically predisposed to winning headers.
Uruguayans always welcome.
Uruguay pound for pound the best footballing nation on earth by far. A population about half of that of Scotland. Uruguay have won 20 official titles, a world record for the most international titles held by any country. The smallest country ever to win ANY World Cup medals.
So excited for the new season, Torreira rhymes with Viera. Start composing songs now!
I know this might sound over the top to some people but based on the couple of world cup games I saw with Lucas in action I’d say
WE’RE ABOUT TO BUY THE GREATEST MIDFIELDER THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN
So how much can we recoup by selling, and will we be able to find a player in the time left with that much money?
Where did £119.5m come from? So, we sold Giroud, Walcott and Coquelin for free? The total spend including Torreira will be £64.5m.
Arsenal runs it’s accounting year April 1st to March 31st like every other business. Not sure the way people are trying to work it out is how the club sees it. I wouldn’t consider the January purchases in the 18/19 financial year budget. We could afford the january purchases in 17/18, amortized the investment over the contract durations and were able to offset it with player sales. What matters right now is our bank balance and predicted revenue. Where we is where we are. We’ve bought four new players addressed problem areas and if Orny is right then thats pretty… Read more »
And the club’s appetite for risk(or doing a Leeds)…. i should say that too.
@Jimbo Jones We are way past the ‘doing a Leeds’ stage. The game has changed and we are a global brand now. We are getting bigger and bigger. I’m not saying it’s a case of ‘we are too big to fail’ but, surely our appetite for risk should have increased?? If you think we’ll win the league with Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette and Mkhitaryan then i’m sorry to say you are in for an ‘also ran’ season even with someone like Emery. We simply need another player of that calibre to go out and challenge in all competitions. It’s not a… Read more »
The way I see it the short-term goal is to get back in the top 4, a title challenge/win would be a huge bonus.
Only the most optimistic of gooners can compare our team/recent transfers with the other top 6 teams and truly believe that we have a real chance of coming out on top. This comes off a bit depressing but its not meant to be, its just my sober analysis (which you don’t have to agree with of course) of where we are right now as a team.
@ramgooner. Agree entirely. I just parsphrased appetite with risk with doing a Leeds! No doubt in my mind the current arsenal board would ever do that. We are pretty much the definition of a sensibly run club. They board are on the opposite end of the spectrum and a bit more risk would be good. But youre right also nobody is too big to fail!
“Arsenal runs it’s accounting year April 1st to March 31st like every other business”
Incorrect.
The HMRC run their tax year from April 6th round to April 5th the following year. However, a limited company can have its financial year begin and end at the end of any month it chooses. My company’s financial year runs from July 31st.
No idea about Arsenal.
Might have to be March 31st, to satisfy the FA. Might not.
In the last 12 months we’ve sold Szczesny £10mill Ox £35mill Walcott £20mill Giroud £15mill Coquelin £12mill Gabriel £10mill Gibbs £7mill Alexis Swap Wilshere Free Cazorla Free Per Retired Total £119mill We’ve purchased Lacazette £48mill Mkhitaryan Swap Mavropanos £2mill Kolasniac Free Lichtsteiner Free Aubameyang £57mill Sokratis £16mill Torreira £26mill? Leno £18mill £167mi It’s £48mill give or take which in two summers for a club the size of ours isn’t a massive amount, and our first team squad is smaller than it was 12months ago, Hower our squad is still over bloated, and we could certainly do with trimming some fat,… Read more »
Hopefully will get this one over the line quickly, will be nice to have almost all of the business for the Summer done by mid-July, quite a change from recent years. Don’t believe any of the other links to so many players out there now, but I do think we are looking for some cheap options for the future since we got our aging veterans in already. I do not feel that we have to sell to buy more players as we did sell so many players last Summer (Ox, Wojo, Gabriel and Gibbs along with Toral and Hinds) and… Read more »
As others have said I like what I have seen during the World Cup. But good too that we identified him before the World Cup so it is not based on just a few strong performances.
Quick question, if I may: how reliable is Pain in the Arsenal as a site? It always comes up in my google searches and I never know if it is a fan site, bad journalism or just click bait.
Fan site, a fickle one at that.
It’s almost getting annoyed by now when our spending gets mentioned without the taking into account the sales over the same period. When you consider Ox, Gabriel, Gibbs, Giroud, Wallcott & Coquelin have left for fees over the past 12 months, you get the feeling the club is pulling the wool over our eyes a bit. Yes, the CL money is no longer there, but the stadium income along with TV deal still should add in the region of £100m to the coffers. There still seems no explanation as to why we would need to have a similar spending budget… Read more »
Exactly. Breaking records on transfer outlay for a single player is not a justification for lack of investment. We are nowhere near man city and United. if we don’t go out and get a top top winger we’ll have no one to blame but us. There hasn’t been a better time in the last decade to go out and invest than this summer. The core is on long term deals. This is the time to go out and get better players. There is still room for improvement. We can do better than Iwobi and Nelson. We should go out and… Read more »
i like it that you used the phrase ‘top top’. wengerism is still in you!
What about Mavropanos the other Greek?
I hope IRS will be ruthless in selling players.
I don’t really get Blog’s financial calculations, since we made a profit last summer. Auba’s purchase was supposed to be pushed through in acknowledgement of that, and therefore should be tagged to last year’s expenditure, not this.
That would make last year’s expenditure around 40m, and this 65m, making the 50m estimates for spending accurate. To be honest, I can’t quite see how that amount is possible given we are always in the top 5-10 clubs in the world regarding income. Anyone got any info on this? Are we still saving money cause Kronke needs a new ranch etc?
I believe the fees for Torreira will be paid in three installments and that’s why we are paying over and above his release clause. Atleast that was what various sources were saying when the news about Torreira got out. That wouldld make our net spend even less than 65 mil
While the money spent in last six months sound a lot, don’t forget we made a very healthy PROFIT last summer… am sure the net spend isn’t impressive
One of our more decent signings if it goes through.
Not convinced with Pastpassellbydate.
Lichsteiner OK but not terribly necessary IMO.
Leno OK.
Torreiro has decent potential and we will need someone like him to hold.
The ornicle provides. All praise the ornicle
N’zonzi is having talks with us. Don’t know why everyone thinks our window is over. Very excited with the additions, I’d take one more quality CB though.
who scout this guy?
with all the new signings and with a new manager, maybe @arseblog can run a competition for us to name the first 11 for our first league game of the season. if there’s a tie breaker, we’ll look at the subs bench and see who gets most of them right to decide the final winner.
whoever gets the first 11 and subs bench spot on will earn our eternal respect, and deserve to be a guest columnist this season here.
“Arsenal hope to complete” /= “Arsenal will complete”. Come on, that is terrible reporting for one of the biggest Arsenal sites in existence.
If we’re looking at bringing in “one more young player”, then I hope we are scouting out Alphonso Davies, the 17 year old wunderkind playing for Vancouver Whitecaps in MLS. He’s Vancouver’s best player, by far. Big, strong, fast, bags of talent. In a few years he’s going to be on the world stage.
Vancouver and Montreal have invested in an excellent facility for their academy.
I heard that OL (Lyon France), invested 8M / year in their academy (I guess salary staff, installation, equipment) and inspired by their Canadian counterpart who use the latest technology to improve, vision, reflex and reactivity of their young players OL is doing now.
Edit: Toronto and Montreal
The new Santi?