According to The Telegraph, Arsenal are open to letting Lucas Torreira leave this summer with AC Milan set to renew their interest.
The Uruguay international was quick to become a fan favourite at the Emirates when he signed from Sampdoria during Sven Mislintat’s short-lived tenure as head scout but he’s struggled to kick on and never really settled in London.
Brought in to add bite and energy in the holding midfield position, the 24-year-old initially did precisely that playing 50 times in his first season.
Torreira lost his place to Matteo Guendouzi at the start of the 2019/20 campaign and that, coupled with the Unai Emery’s fascination with playing him further forward, seemed to knock the player’s confidence.
He looked like he was getting back to his old self when Mikel Arteta took over before a broken ankle forced him to spend the entire lockdown period undertaking rehabilitation.
While he got game time at the end of the season, he found himself behind Dani Ceballos and Granit Xhaka in the pecking order and mostly featured off the bench.
Under contract until 2023, it looks as though the club have decided they’d rather cash in this summer than protect his value by offering him a new deal at some point next year.
Milan approached the player last summer when his former coach Marco Giampaolo took over. While he’s since left and taken over at Torino – also rumoured to be interested – current Rossoneri coach Stefano Pioli also likes his profile. Fiorentina are also said to be interested.
Were the club to recoup the £26 million fee paid for Torreira in 2018 and also get sizable sums for Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who is also seemingly set to exit, and Matteo Guendouzi, it would go some way to making up the cash needed to sign Thomas Partey. The Atletico Madrid player is valued around the €50 million mark.
Arsenal’s other business looks like it’s ticking along. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang looks likely to sign a deal that will keep him at the club until 2023, Willian is set to sign a three-year deal as a free agent and there’s considerable interest in Lille’s Brazilian defender Gabriel Magãlhaes.
Selling 21 and 24-year-old midfielders to buy a 27-year-old doesn’t look like the smartest move. I wonder if there’s someone else that they have an eye on.
Exactly, Torreira is only going to get better.
It’s fine to sell both Torreira and Guendouzi — they’re not first choice and have decent market value. But it would be good to replace them with someone of similar age (under 25), who could in turn be sold were their value to go up. Partey is a good player, but he’s going to cost a lot and be difficult to sell a few years down the line.
If ONLY we had a global scouting structure in place to unearth these gems in the future BEFORE they become expensive? That would be a GREAT idea wouldn’t it?….
Yes this global scouting network has really helped our central midfield area for a long time
If he helps us bridge the gap to the top four that’s the main thing and more than any future sale. 27 is hardly that old anyway.
Exactly. As crooked and shady the executive body of our club are, i think they can at least see the situation we are in. We are competing with united and Chelsea and whoever else plans on chiming in, for two CL spots. And both those teams were better this year and are in the process of adding serious talent to their ranks that we can’t afford. This is an unpopular opinion but maybe right now we can can only afford short termism.
Lorenzo Pelligrini, would be a better signing
what about emre can or fekir?
They could be earmarking Ceballos & Partey as the combined sales of Gendouzzi, Torreira & AMN should get us pretty close.
That’s ESR, and one other getting a promotion. Could even be due to the unexpected emergence of Saka and Martinelli.
Different positions, but ultimately, every game brings 990 minutes plus extra time. That’s what the manager has got to dish about every game. I think Arteta has seen enough of everyone to have a list of expendables and upgradeables.
Xhaka, Ceballos, Willock, Partey, occasional Chambers/Luiz/AMN. Whatever happens, I’m excited to witness Arteta’s first guided foray into the transfer market.
Torreira is for the PL to small, because refs allow more physicality in the PL compared to other leagues. He will thrive elsewhere. I know about Kanté but have you seen him lately? No. Ask yourself why – many players hit that one season wonder – Michu remember him? We need a solid tough strong guy with vision and passing skills as our DM
We all have our favourites I have many from Academy, but Torreira as much as I like him is an asset that we can get good money for and also one who we can find an upgrade for with Partey being vastly better if his sale can cover the bulk of his cost it’s not a bad sale, Arsenal correct me if I’m wrong allowed the most goals on dead ball situations we need players who can contribute in all aspects of defence, aerially and psychically Torreira does not cut it. I think he is a good player but he… Read more »
Torreira can go. His wanting to go back to Italy and not planning to stay in a long term put me off. He is also an average player. I even prefer El Neny. If you watch El Neny play for Egypt, you realize there is a very good player hidden in him. He never got his chance at Arsenal. Willock has got far more game time than him with the same quality or even a little less.
i agree elneny is a solid option in midfield. especially against the big teams. willock is shite really like most of this group of over hyped young players we have
There’s absolutely no evidence of that. He hasn’t improved in the 2 years he’s been at the club. I had high hopes that he could be our Kante but unfortunately hes not at that level. Ceballos looks the better player defensively and offensively and if we could get partey and keep ceballos it would massively improve the midfield. He clearly wants a return to Italy so I think selling him and using the money for an upgrade is the best thing for the team.
As I mentioned on the AMN article, I do think we all need to calm down a bit about age. We have a lot of young players already, with a relatively young average age of 26. If 27 is too old for us then the game is up!
The way people are going on you would think we were challenging fo the title and hadn’t in-fact finished 8th!
We were 10 points off 4th and 43 points from 1st, we need better players people!!
27 isn’t old, but it’s more the kind of signing a club with plenty of cash can afford to make. We’re not in the Champions League and so need to cover our backs a bit.
First of all we need to improve next seasons results, we can worry about the season after that closer the time.
Partey’s a good player, and it’d be nice to see him playing for us. Just would surprise me if the club would prioritise that kind of player for £50m in the current situation.
Sounds like good business to me. Who’s more likely to get u in the Champions League? Partey, or someone who may develop into Partey in a couple years. I think the club knows they have one primary goal in this business and that’s getting in the champions league places and staying there for a long period.
Yeah, I worry about that too. Ideally, we should really be looking at players between 21-24. But with our scouting system being gutted, it’s hard to know what talents are available.
You realize we have one of the youngest squads in the PL…we need more experience and that is what Arteta is focused on bringing in.
Just because a player is three years younger, does not mean he is going to reach higher heights than an older player. You could just get three more years of mediocre service…This train of logic has always confused me.
I do realize that. And I am truly excited that we have such a young team! That’s not the issue that I am trying to highlight. The fact of the matter is we have removed a scouting system in favor of Kia’s client book. There is a parasitic relationship forming between agent and club: David Luiz and Cedric are currently in our team. Not to mention potential incomings like Willian, Coutinho, Joelson Fernandez all of whom are Kia’s clients. Our job is not to enrich Kia, but build a team capable of winning. Wouldn’t you prefer signing a Donny van… Read more »
Although I agree with the overall sentiment, and I do love me a wunderkid, I think the average age of the squad is quite healthy and allows for instant impact from seasoned professionals. It’s all very well Guendouzi and Torreira (like them both, very much – potential 8.5 & 7.75 for me) playing more games in a season than they ever have. That’s how players develop, Arsene often stated 100 games and you get an idea. At 90 games, AMN was written off by as many people who want him to stay now – you know his mum is skanking… Read more »
I really like him. But then, I like a lot of players, and they can’t all play. So.. it makes sense. And yeah, we’ve cursed year after year as we hung on to players that kept depreciating in value. Perhaps we’ve grown up. If you’re not improving the squad, you’re up for sale. I like it. Even though I don’t like potentially losing AMN. But it feels grown up for once.
I also like him, but I’m not sure he’s cut out for the Premier League. Unfortunately his size and physicality is a hinderance. Compare his effectiveness with Fabinho, and only one is capable of holding down the MF on their own.
I think his passing and technical ability is unfairly overlooked. He is a classy player, but might just be not what we need going forward.
We should be getting at least €35m for him, at least.
Exactly, we’re one of the world’s top 10 clubs and it’s about time we started acting like one!!
Not being good enough for Arsenal doesn’t mean these players are suddenly going to become homeless. They are in fact going to find their level somewhere else and get the consistent playing time to improve, instead of sitting on our bench stagnating.
“Worlds top 10 clubs”. Really?
Yes, it terms of income, wage bill, gate receipts, Number of fans etc etc top 10. We were top 5 but Wenger’s 15 years of managed decline pulled us out of that
Gattuso is at Napoli 😉
Updated. Sorry. Hard keeping up with Gazidis’ decisions…
You know what they say about Gazidis. SOMETIMES MAYBE GOOD, SOMETIMES MAYBE SHIT.
One of my best buddies is Milanese.
The Milanisti think Gazidis is a clown and Milan made a mistake hiring him. Their current manager is doing well, and Ibhra showed up and made a difference.
Ivan the terrible. He’s mostly shit.
We need some midfield depth. To let go of Torreira and AMN in the same window just to sign Partey would leave us short. Willock is not at the required level and Smith-Rowe can’t be relied upon just yet. Torreira showed amazing potential at the start of Emery’s tenure and we really can’t judge him since then given the horrors under Emery and then the ankle injury. Would prefer we keep both Torreira and AMN.
Willian is being brought in to possibly play in the midfield 3 afaik.
so effectively we are losing guendouzi and torreria in the centre. and amn outside(boooo!)
and replacing them with partey and willian in the centre and willian outside.
hopefully ESR will come in and be as effective as the other kids under arteta.
I can’t see Willian playing in a midfield three. Surely he’s been added as a different option to Pepe that would provide us with more width, or as our left winger if Auba were to move central. I imagine if we move to a 4-3-3 it will be Xhaka, Ceballos, and Partey who make up the midfield trio
I think depth comes from the likes of Willock who have another season of experience and their roles have the likes of ESR waiting. Having a player like Partey starting and Willock deputising looks much better than having Torreira and Willock deputising
I don’t really think we should sell AMN to cover Partey’s price. If I’m not mistaken he has a 50m Euro release-clause. According to Transfermarkt…
Holding/Chambers – 10m (circa)
Sokratis – 8m
Ozil – 12m
Torreira – 30m
Guendouzi -32m
Elneny – 5m
That is 97m altogether. (these would cover not only Partey but also Magalhaes for example)
Reality:
Holding-CHambers – probably about right 10-15M each (I think we need them both)
Sokratis – 4-5M?
Ozil – 0M
Torreira – 25M
Douzi – 25-30M (we have done ourselves no favours)
Elneny – 2-3M?
So we could maybe get 60M out of 4 players…at a stretch.
I think if Lovren and Chirices could have been sold for 12m and 9m respectively only a couple of days ago… then Sokratis also worth a bit more than 4,5..
And given his affection toward Turkey and it’s leader – I don’t think Ozil would be worthless for a bigger team in that country.
(Plus: I didn’t count both Chambers and Holding. I taken into consideration only one of them)
They are not on the same wages.
That’s a good point. But even if you take that in consideration – Daveo’s summary is the following:
Chambers or Holding: 12,5
Sokratis: 4,5
Torreira: 25
Guendouzi: 27,5
Elneny: 2,5
That is: 72
Party + Magalhaes (as things stand at the moment): 82
so I still can’t see why should it be a necessity to sell AMN in order to buy Thomas Partey only.
I love that plan but the parts about Ozil and Sokratis are some Rod and Todd Flanders levels of optimism
You just pulled off a spot on Simpsons jokeTo A Tee!
Take a bow on that one. 1000 thumbs up.
OZIL ain’t going anywhere he is the most selfish player next to BALE he won’t mind sitting on the bench or at home for one yr to collect his high wages. Lol trust me Ozil won’t leave. Everyone else on the other hand is up for debate. I think we should keep chambers and sell Holding because chambers can ply CB RB & CDM holding can only play CB not versatile enough. I think he’ll do well on another team. I’d keep Chambers sell Holding, sell Sokratis & Mustafi, sell Torreira, Kolasinac, Elneny, Mhikitaryan and I’ll listen to offers for… Read more »
Swap ozil for bale!
£350,000 for £600,000?
They are not selfish, they are honouring the contracts they signed. And you do realise there will be a glut of players being offered by clubs all over Europe? The wheeler dealer will have to be much more switched on if he wants to “outsmart the market”
What has he done wrong, a season ago we were talking about having an amazing player on our hands. Xhaka-Ceballos partnership forces him out but when he’s been subbed on he’s always done well. If it’s not at least 40m then leave him be, we have too many centre backs I want to see reports on them being put up for sale, and Cedric instead of AMN.
Why are we saying its cedric vs amn?
I would rather we sell Kola. that would also work towards getting ozil off the books im sure.
Both cedric and kola should go. Alongside mustafi
Why is cedric going? He only came and has done nothing wrong. Get in the real world please.
This is a player that should fetch a decent price. I could see some good level clubs willing to invest in him.
However, if we’re talking about moving on dead wood and underachievers, Torreira isn’t it IMO.
We have been there before with the likes of Bendtner, Denilson, Jenkinson Lucas etc. I hate referring to our own players as deadwood but nobody is lining up to take the players we consider surplus on their current wages. High chances are we will move on the players we still think valuable because they are the ones other teams can afford to risk their investment on.
Completely agree. Torrriera is anything BUT deadwood. It isn’t like Xhaka or Ceballos provide any sort of steel or spine in the middle. Torriera was coming back from an ankle break in the 2nd half/restart. That’s a big deal.Despite this, he’s rock solid whenever he plays. What, manager saying, “oh, no more of that.” It makes no sense to sell him. Even this Partey thing happens, that’s putting all your eggs in one basket. What happens when suddenly Mr. Perfect Partey (who no other big team is chasing, btw, so surely he must be ALL THAT) is injured, or needs… Read more »
Torreira too lightweight for English football. Sell him.
If true, it looks like he’s on his way like AM-N. Both are “saleable assets” unlike several other players we’d really like to offload but nobody appears interested. There’s no way Arteta can overhaul the squad, which is vital, without selling players to raise funds and these are examples of players we can be fairly sure of selling for a reasonable price. If/when they do go, I don’t think they will be the last.
Tim Stillman had a great article recently explaining the requirements of modern midfield play. He outlined why Torreira is out of place in an age where midfielders are expected to offer all round attributes. Not saying that this is the justification for his sale as the “Circus Upstairs” make zero sum decisions in a world where vision and perspective is what makes a winning club. There is a nagging feeling that he never had the chance to make and impact, and I’m certain that he is worth far more than 20 million especially to a league that places high value… Read more »
Does losing Guendouzi, AMN & Torreira and getting in Partey make us stronger in central midfield? A position where we know we need to strengthen. Can ESR play in there? My recollection is of him playing further up.
What the actual fuck….?!! How the fuck are we supposed to get back into the top four if we are shipping out players like Lucas Torreira? Have those twats in the boardroom ever heard of squad depth? What happens next season if Xhaka picks up a knock? Fuck this board.
spot on.
Will Bennacer and Torreira be the shortest midfield pair on record?
Very tenacious, though.
Wouldn’t mind getting Bennacer back!
He’s excellent and ironically much better than Xhaka. A own goal, that one.
You have to add Serge Gnabry here too..
You have to, yeah. To be fair, though, show me one person who back then said that Gnabry must be kept, because he’s gonna be a superstar at Bayern or a club of similar stature. Truth is, that the people working with him daily did not recognise the potential of the player or mismanaged him with wrong loan spells. Well, can happen from time to time I guess. But if I remember correctly, fans were mostly indifferent to Gnabry leaving.I certainly was, but I can only judge what is shown to me and I am not sure if he had… Read more »
I can honestly say that I was bummed when Gnabry left. If I remember correctly, it wasn’t that the coaching staff didn’t recognize his talent, but more that he wanted to leave. I could be wrong on that though. The sad thing is that they got such a pittance for such an obvious talent.
You are absolutely right.
I watch a fair bit of Milan. Bennacer is quite a good player.
Our transfer market approach seems to indicate we’ll be weaker in terms of squad depth for this season. But also at the same time we don’t have cash reserves of a man City. And Arteta would have realised this may be the only way. One transfer season at a time.
Also the KSE can fuck off
‘Also KSE can fuck off’ should be the sign-off on all forthcoming blog posts. #KroenkeOut
To be fair Torreira isn’t a v natural fit for either 433 that it’s being suggested Mikel wants to play or the 343 we’ve been playing. I love him as a player but you can see the difference in ball progression (or lack thereof) when he plays at CM since the restart (other than to come on to help close out games). Yes Partey is older but he’s also a more natural fit for how we are set up. Theres also Marc Roca (aged 22 I think) who’s got great positional discipline and is excellent at moving the ball quickly… Read more »
I’m ok with this. Not a bad player has a fighting spirit we need more of but he is too small for the role he has in this league . He is not Kanté . Hope we get a good offer.
Sell all the midfielders in a depressed covid market for half their value..
Wow! The knuckle headed decisions continue
Sell Ozil, Guendozi, Elneny and Mustafi instead. This player has performed well for this club including Ainsley who has played out of position since his entry into the first team. If Arsenal are this ruthless why didnt they get Ozil off the books last season. I am still pissed about Aaron leaving the club. Not sure if this is fake news.
How would you get Özil off the books? He has a valid contract and doesn’t want to leave. Apart from the fact that no sane person would offer him the same conditions he has at Arsenal, he could still refuse to go. The club are doing their best to make it uncomfortable, but they go as far as they can legally go by not selecting him for games and basically killing his career. However, it seems Özil doesn’t care if his career is killed, he will just take the contractually guaranteed cash. Also wouldn’t be surprised if he retired next… Read more »
Makes sense, I’m not sure Torreira has much more ceiling to reach as a PL player
Likeable player, but he’s not really mobile/physical enough for the league. Plus there have been a few stories he doesn’t feel at home in London
He’s been consistently linked with a move away. Started promisingly but never quite cemented a place. If we get a good offer and it funds a move for the likes of Partey then it’s a no brainer.
We’ll always have that goal in the derby Lucas !
That goal against Spurs and the video of his dad’s reaction will keep the little forever in our hearts should he leave.
It’s looking like we need to sell in order to buy.
That and loans, free agents and hopefully a few contract extensions …
To be fair it’s not looking too bad at the moment …
Used to be our squad was full of attacking midfielders, now our squad is crammed with below par central defenders (9 at the last count). Centre mid is our area of biggest opportunity, I’m sure Arteta knows this. We need some ball carriers and players able to operate in tight space. Ceballos is the blueprint for us at the moment. More of this please.
Is there any thought out there that Willian could be a wing-back if Arteta sticks to a 5 at the back system? Maybe Arteta sees him either there or as AM? As a winger really only makes sense if Auba is leaving. Auba, Laca, Pepe trio up front (with Saka, Martinelli, Nelson, Nketiah providing exceptional rotation) is a squad strength. Willian is a super talented player, but doesn’t really improve that trio. Maybe he could be a LWB or AM, in those roles he could definitely improve the squad.
I was thinking that, he seems to have a lot of untapped versatility. He’s kind of like a Brazilian James Milner, with much quicker feet obviously
If you strip away the Kia link, the context of the job redundancies, and maybe the 3 year contract – he’ll be a really good signing tbh
Really don’t wanna see him leave.
I would probably make an awful manager because i would have kept gibbs, coquelin, wilshere, campbell, jenko, welbz…
That said, maybe its time for him to move on, but obviously only if we can upgrade in that position
The prospect of losing Guendouzi and Torreira is further reason to keep AMN. Whilst I’m not as overawed by Partey as the children screaming for his signature on twitter, he offers us something different that we currently lack, and his age profile is somewhat overplayed – he has just turned 27, doesn’t have a huge history of injuries and has only been a regular, 40-50 game a season player for a couple of years, so he isn’t going to burn out any time soon. We need to get over this idea that players die at 30, the top scorers in… Read more »
At the beginning of the season, my feeling was that if AMN did not have a defined role in the team he should think of leaving. I still think that it is best option for him. If the club can get the 30 mill that it reported that they are asking, then good for every one. I am having concerns about Torreira’s ability to stand up to the rigors of the prem. I really like him as a player but his left ankle seems to be causing him real problems. Guendozi seems to be a very idealistic young man and… Read more »
Our current crop of midfielders show how awful our recruitment strategy have been. All Torreira, Xhaka, Guen play basicly in the same position as 6 and although good players, same time none of them are good enough to play as single pivot. I don’t know much about Partey, but he is basicly a signing in the same position. So we have to sell two of them to bring another one in. Arteta prefers Xhaka, thats good enough for me. I am much more hesitant about losing AMN, because he can fill so many different roles, and also be a midfielder… Read more »
I agree that we have to sell, but the problem Arsenal is having – and it’s not new – is that several of the players we really want to offload don’t appear to be wanted by other clubs. I suspect we’ll look to sell AM-N, Torreira, Guendouzi and, possibly, Lacazette simply because they are more “saleable” than some of the others. Arteta knows that the more he brings in through sales, the more he can overhaul the squad – but that may mean making some difficult choices about who leaves.
If we are replacing them with Thomas Partey and Declan Rice it will be a good upgrade. Rice replace Guendouzi, he’s still very young and is doing very good in midfield at West Ham. Thomas replace Torreira, that will be a very big improvement in cdm.
As for AMN we need to keep him. Sell Kolasianac and we don’t need to replace him. AMN and Saka can cover Tierney at least for the season and put the money in midfield and center back positions. AMN can be our utility player and will play an important role in other positions.
You make some good points but you say “buy him” and “sell him” very easily. What if nobody wants most of the players we want/need to offload? If AM-N does leave it will be because there will be buyers for him at a reasonable price. The more players we can sell that other clubs want, the more money Arteta has to overhaul the squad – but you cannot sell a football player (or anything else) if there’s no interest in buying them (or buying them at the price we’re asking).
Indeed or someone on a weekly wage no-one will touch
Do you just read one snippet from Arseblog and then become indoctrinated? “We need to keep” AMN…the lad barely played for us last season and had 3 good matches to end the season. He’s a solid player but exceptionally replaceable. If we can fetch $20-$30M for him and that helps bring an established CL-quality player like Partey, who can help us get back to the top 4….how could we not do that?
You are missing the point we can still get such a player by moving on one of Guendouzi, Torreira or both. They are not in the starting 11, Partey will slot in straight next to Xhaka and Ceballos/Countinho. AMN is an important utility player for the squad, even if he don’t get regular game time. I don’t think Arteta will let him go..
It looks like the leadership doesn’t think we can conduct the rest of our transfer business without selling AMN.
I just don’t understand why you say he’s such an important player. Besides the last three matches of the season, he was very much a bit-part player.
I would love to keep him but I’m also not going to pretend it’s a travesty to lose him. He’s a solid utility player and Brighton think he’s a realistic transfer target. I personally aspire for Arsenal to be more than a team of solid players.
Mikel’s strategy and its implications are emerging. Build around Auba and get into CL means having a short window to achieve success. Auba is not young. Therefore, we need to sell and buy now. The super young and super talented are safe as are a few indispensables (like Xhaka) everyone else that can be sold, maybe sold. KSE backs this, but at a price … cost cutting, due to COVID, the evolving technology of talent assessment, Brexit fortifying Britain from foreign talent (especially young and unproven), and innate cheapness. Sausage making is ugly. Whether we, as fans, can accept it… Read more »
This would be a good window in my opinion. Sell Holding 9m, Sokratis 3m, Kolasinac 7m, Mustafi 9m, Osei Tutu 2m Buy Gabriel 25m and look for a young left back like Manning at QPR 5m to back up Tierney. Midfield sell Torreira 18m, Guendozi 20m, Elneney 6m, Ozil free if we even get somebody to pay 100k of his wages that would cover Willians salary. Loan out Willock for the season Buy Partey 43m and Cebellos on loan with obligation to buy next summer. Attack Keep what we have and add Smith Rowe and Willian. Balagon will leave for… Read more »
Thank god you are not in Charge of our transfers. You seriously under value our players. Holding for 9M ? FFS
I like Torreira, so would be sad to see him go and i think he could be a very useful squad player. But selling two good players to buy an excellent one is the only thing we can do to catch up at the moment and a player like Partey could help to really improve us, if all goes well..
My man city work mate says he has heard John stones swap for Matteo g. Would you do it ..( stones on bigger wage slightly )
NO.
NO, all our current defenders are better than Stones IMO
Wonder where is this report: “Edu wants the club to move to a more data and analytics-driven approach which has proved so successful for the likes of Liverpool and Man City, and away from the old fashioned system of having scouts specialising in different locations around the world”
You posting about random transfer rumors. Destroyed your agenda yet again.. in about ONE DAY. Fraud. Interesting how Ted Knutson mentions video scouting and big clubs moving away from live game scouts traveling like a major trend.. ofc you’d not know this, an absolute fraud even for a blogger.
If you dislike this site so much, why … you know, bother?
I hope you find inner peace
There’s no doubt KSE and Raul/Vinai deserve a lot of stick for some of the things they’ve done so far (and in the past few days). But boy is the atmosphere here on Arseblog appalling. A month ago, people were ready to bite off the hands of clubs who were ready to buy AMN. Today, they’re acting as if we’re losing Makélélé. Both AMN and Torreira are decent players and good lads. But we can do much better. Party is a massive upgrade. Can we please wait for the window to get over before we begin judging and scrutinizing every… Read more »
100% agree. We finished 8th place with these players. That doesn’t seem very good to me.
We can keep all of them for sentimental reasons and finish 8th again….Or we can sell the players who should be playing for worse teams and improve the squad.
This is how more competitive teams get better. I’m glad we’ve finally started to become a bit more ruthless.
Maybe you guys could factor into your criticisms of supporters on here that they have, as you say, grown to like these players, and when those players deliver a trophy, it’s not easy to accept that they are up for sale the same week. That’s all. Should they be moved on, the sentiment will ebb in time, as it has with lots of former favourite sons.
I don’t disagree with you. And I have no problems with fans saying they’ll miss AMN and Torreira. I like them as players, too. My issue is with the hyperbolic knee-jerk reactions criticizing every single move and propping up AMN and Torreira as possible world class players. Why can’t we say “It wasn’t meant to be/let’s see how the rest of the window goes” instead of just going ballistic and calling the transfer window a failure already? Neither of them have even left the club yet.
Perhaps because we’re only just starting to see the first fruits of Arteta’s vision and players like AMN have bought into it and improved from having a coach like him; the results are evident in the performances. Previously they suffered under a manager who stayed longer than he should have for the good of the club, flabby ambition regarding trophies, disillusioned playing staff and fans, poor leadership from his replacement etc. He’s 22, wonderfully versatile and on the up.
Personally I don’t judge a player, and don’t think anyone should, by his last 3 matches…Which I’m pretty sure is what everyone is doing with AMN, as his prior 97 were distinctly unremarkable.
It was literally just a month ago Ornstein broke a story that AMN was going to leave and no one really cared much. A month later – it’s a travesty.
We can’t have our cake and eat it too. You want Partey? Willian? Magalhães? This is how you get him…you sell those with value who don’t contribute that much to winning matches.
Sometimes the best cakes are made with careful baking & not just rushing to Harrods Foodhall and buying expensive ingredients.
Sometimes not making the tough decisions are the most expensive mistakes.
I have no problem if we keep AMN. I have no problem if we sell him for the right price either. If selling him gets us Partey, I’d consider that a great trade-off. Like I said, I like AMN, and I agree that his versatility can be a boon. But thanks to the mismanagement of the past few years, we may have to be a little ruthless and sell players who can get us funds without really affecting the team too much. And AMN and Torreira unfortunately fall in that category.
Torriera seems a likeable guy and a hard worker. And he’s had a bit of bad luck with injuries. But it does seem like he’s at somewhat of ceiling. Being short isn’t inherently an issue (see Messi, Lionel or Cazorla, Santi). But Torriera doesn’t have the skillset of those sort of players and we do need a bigger CDM that’s better in the air. Guendouzi is welcome to the door. I haven’t seen anything from him that would make dealing with an apparent poor attitude worth it. AMN is a whole other story. At least on the evidence of the… Read more »
A ton of comments on this board this season about “we need to get more athletic in midfield”. AMN is one of our most athletic players on the squad. Why would we sell him instead of letting him play his natural position (midfield)? He already understands the defensive part of the game. Let’s see what he can do there. Guen should never wear our shirt again. Way overhyped and overrated for such an average talent with zero positional awareness. Take the funds and move on. I’m a fan of Torreira and if Xhaka gets hurt, who is going to do… Read more »
I’m OK with this and expected it, to be honest. He’s physically not strong enough and either gets bullied off the ball or gets smashed up. He hasn’t settled in the UK and has been quoted many times as wanting to go back to Italy so it suits him and the club. I hope we get a decent price for him, Covid 19 doesn’t seem to have affected other selling prices.
So we sell 3 players to buy 1 then by December we’re crying of a lack of squad depth cos he’s knackered and off to play in the AFCON, returns lacking fitness as we fall behind in the title race and get knocked out of Europe… Oh wait Where have i seen that happen before
This all seems off to me. Moving on Torreira, Guendouzi, Maitland Niles and, I assume Elneny leaves us very short in midfield and three of those four at least have room for improvement. It’s all already feeling pretty icky, this transfer window.
Just to caveat though, I wouldn’t be bothered by Guendouzi leaving given his attitude.
We should keep Maitland-Niles, Elneny isn’t part of the squad, Guendouzi has a seious attitude problem and Torreira is too small. One good player would replace all three of them with game time to spare.
If Torreira has to go, for us to improve, I’m happy with that. Ideally I’d like to improve with him in the squad, but that’s how it goes…players come and players go
Another I felt would leave. Contrary to some people’s opinions, has been decent but not entirely the answer in that midfield. Even with Arsene, Torreira lost the ball a lot but somehow the focus by the fans was always on Granit. Again I mentioned Granit played a key role for us not appreciated by same fans and was unfairly (stupidly) treated. OTOH if Torreira is sanctioned to leave, hopefully it means we are confident we can get Ceballos back on loan. BC otherwise it would be a bit of an ask rebuilding midfield with such a short window. Willock has… Read more »
Torreira wasn’t at the club with Arsene