Lucas Torreira’s agent says that there is a lot of interest in the midfielder, but as yet no official offers have been made.
Pablo Bentancur spoke to CalcioMercato, and made it clear he feels as if Mikel Arteta needs to make a firm decision on the 24 year old and his place in the Arsenal team.
Torreira had a difficult second season in England, struggling for form like most did Unai Emery who played him in a role which didn’t particularly suit him.
He was beginning to be more involved under Arteta, but suffered a bad ankle injury which sidelined him throughout the lockdown. On the restart, his appearances were much more supporting cast than leading man, and he has already spoken this summer about his desire to play more regularly.
On his future, Bentancur said, “There are many requests, but still nothing official. I have received many inquiries, but we have nothing written on the table.
“The player is training with Arsenal, he is their property, and is one of the few cases of athletes coming to England and playing 50 games in a row.
“After he had a bad injury, he didn’t have to undergo surgery but the return was a bit complicated.
“The coach has to make a technical choice and he has to decide if he really needs Torreira or not, but all the stories in the press are more about publicity than reality.”
A return to Italy has been mooted, with Torino the latest club to show interest.
“Today the market is a bit stagnant, official offers, I repeat, there are none,” he continued. “Torino? Football must be divided into two parts, the sporting and the economic.
“In sporting terms, Torreira is perfect for Turin, Giampaolo has always wanted him, but we must be aware of the fact that Arsenal will demand a substantial fee, and also Lucas’ salary I think is a bit too high for Torino.”
So, everything’s as clear as mud then.
Agents pfft. Other teams need to decide if they want him or not and then submit an offer good enough to tempt Arsenal to sell. Thats how it works usually.
Agreed. If we come out and day we want to sell him the price we can ask for drops. I saw Fiorentina were offering £7.5m to loan him then a £16m obligation to buy him next season. If we can negotiate another £2-4m on that deal I’d take it. I’m sure we could then use cash reserves or a low/0% interest loan (maybe from KSE) to put all that money into the transfer kitty right now, paying it back when we get the rest in a year.
I agree. Much of the fabled cash reserve has gone to replace the lack of CL income over the past seasons. A fair chunk of what remains is needed to cover interest and provide security on the stadium loan (still about £140 million, despite what some Gooners believe). KSE have restructured that borrowing to put in on a lower rate, which is good, but there’s still not much wriggle room overall.
The giant cash reserve was always a myth. It’s mostly a function of when the accounts are published and the highly seasonal nature of Arsenal’s income, with large chunks of cash coming in from season ticket renewals and sponsors in May. But most of that cash is needed to pay the bills over the coming year because Arsenal run at a loss in pretty much every month other than May. AIUI the neat short-term result from debt restructuring is that Arsenal will no longer be required to hold ~ $35m in reserve as part of the previous repayment agreement. That… Read more »
Yeah right. Isn’t the point of agents to try and find buyers for the player? If they can find a club who will give us what we paid, I’m sure we’ll be happy to accept.
It’s not Arteta’s job to say explicitly whether he wants a player or not. In the words of Vito Corleone, make us an offer we can’t refuse.
Yes, but we need to raise money – that is an obvious priority. We need to sell to buy so that Arteta can overhaul the squad. If a reasonable offer (and it’s clearly a depressed, buyer’s, market) comes in, of course we should consider it seriously. We aren’t going to get “big” fees for any of the players we want/need to sell. We have to be realistic.
Agent talk should be ignored, but he does make a valid point as to Arteta needing to make a decision over Torreira. There’s a player there, but he needs a well defined role
I actually think the honesty and clarity of the agent’s statement here is quite refreshing. Having said that it all has one objective really, which is to market the player and get the best for him
I think that when a player signs a fat contract and his agent gets his juicy fee, the agent should be contractually bound to shut his f’n mouth while said player is under contract to the club, at least until the player enters the final year. Then blab away …
I for one will be gutted if he leaves…. It’s a strange situation with Arteta probably still not clear about Ceballos. Some experimentation with a midfield pivot of Torreira and Ceballos would’ve made the picture far more clearer but unfortunately Torreira had the injury. Xhaka and Torreira’s partnership was good but Xhaka can be a liability at times with another defensive midfielder alongside him….. Ceballos is a perfect partner to a defensive midfielder because of his ability to move out of tight spaces
F Off! I am sick of this agent bullshit. If you’re client is a good player (which I believe he is) and wants to leave than find him a team that wants him and that can aford to buy him and stop trying to implicate it is somehow arsenals fault that your client got injured and that his current sallary is obstacle for you to do ypur job. That way I could be agent too. I indeed know couple of municipal clubs that would love to have Torreira but can’t afford him too.
Just some agent’s talk
Stay man
If we were to take Arteta’s words at face value then we wouldn’t be selling anyone. This mincing of words, like, “I really rate the player” and in the case of AMN, “I played him in the important games”. Its not fooling anyone, if he thinks it’s going to put their market value up. Unfortunately, Arsenal have very few marketable players because we’ve signed so much dross or underachievers in recent years. I wouldn’t be surprised if we welcomed El Nenny back into the fray to replace Ceballos.
Might just be me but I actually found this agent to be transparent and refreshing
What Arteta needs to do has got fuck all to do with Pablo Bentancur, whoever he is.
She sang all fired up. Good tune
It looks like Torreira’s going and that’s a shame. I think there’s a very good player trying to get out but somehow it’s not happening at Arsenal. I suppose if we did sell him the cash would come in handy: we still need to improve the squad. BTW: I agree with Andrew about today’s game. Basically, it’s just a glorified friendly. Having said that, beating the Scousers would leave a nice warm glow inside. Last thing: tragic news overnight about Chadwick Boseman. He was a great actor who was all set to become a mega-star for years to come. Gone… Read more »
If a club really wants him, the’ll make an offer good enough for Arsenal to consider selling him. Simple.
He is one of our relatively few “saleable” assets (of the players we may want to offload anyway) so, yes, if any bids come in the club must consider them seriously. We have to sell players to reduce the wage bill, raise funds, and free up room for the players Arteta wants/needs. There are supposed to be a dozen or so that we want to offload – no chance of getting all those off the books but we must try to shift some, and soon!
I would love to know the dozen or so players arteta wants shot of – would guess it includes elneny, sokratis, mustafi and douzi? Who are the other 8? Some would say torreria could be but I get a feeling, like others, that there is a quality player waiting to break out – if anyone can do that arteta can. Same goes with AMN
If Ceballos doesnt sign, then he has to stay. The partnership he has with Xhaka is decent enough for our ambitions. And even if Ceballos signs, then its still a good thing to have 3 quality players for two midfield positions.
I think Torreira has always struggled in a midfield 2 because he just can’t cover enough ground. Much less exposed in a midfield 3. I’m guessing we will mostly be a back 3 this year so I would move him on if we can get back 25 million and reinvest.
Looks like Pablo’s after a cash injection.
tbh he got asked the question, and he answered by saying why he hasn’t played much (complicated return) and if arteta needs him (then he will stay) or if not (then he might go) but as for torino? don’t have the mulla. Agent didn’t say anything wrong
Selling Torreira is madness. He is sellable for a reason. He has more qualities than he has been allowed to show, is young and willing. The persistence with Xhaka is unbearable and is deforming team shape. He is not the only player who can pass a ball. Xhaka should be shown the door, along with Elneny, Sokratis, Mustafi, Özil, Chambers, etc. Take a loss on sale price and get them off the wage bill. Torreira and Maitland-Niles are the kind of players we should be coveting, not selling.