When Arsenal loaned Lucas Torreira to Fiorentina last summer, the two clubs agreed a purchase option of €15m to make the deal permanent at the end of the season.
Having been named their player of the month three times in 2022 alone, it’s fair to say that the Uruguayan impressed during his time there, and it was fully expected that he’d join them full-time at the end of the campaign.
However, there appears to be have been a serious spanner in the works, with reports that the Italian side had submitted a low-ball €7m bid for the 26 year old – one which Arsenal naturally rejected.
Last night, any hopes that an agreement could be found were scuppered when Torreira released a statement via his social media accounts, thanking the fans and staff, and making it clear he wanted to stay.
Dear “Tifosi” from ACF Fiorentina. Unfortunately the time has come to say goodbye.
It is with great sadness that my relationship with ACF Fiorentina ends. The club that gave me so much love and support all this time. From the beginning they made me feel at home. I discovered a wonderful city that was always kind to me, both on and off the pitch.
They always showed me affection, respect and for that I will always be grateful.
Thanks to its trust I was able to find the continuity and level I wanted. I owe that to my teammates and all the fans who gave us energy game by game. Know that I always left everything on the field of play for these colours.
Special thanks to all the club staff; cooks, manager, physiotherapist and security. They are the fundamental pieces for the functioning of this institution.
Know that I did my best to continue being part of this club, but unfortunately there were those who, acting in a bad way, according to my understanding, managed to prevent this from happening and that is why I have to leave.
I wish you the best for the future. You will have one more fan cheering from wherever I have to be.
Lucas Torreira
There have been reports of an issue between Torreira’s agent and the club ownership, with public criticism last month of how Fiorentina attempted to change financial aspects of it.
The issue for Arsenal now is that they have another transfer to sort out in an already busy summer. It’s clear the player doesn’t want to be in England, and while you could make an argument he could do a decent job for us if he stayed, we can’t keep allowing players to go for free.
A headache for Edu and his team, for sure.
I’m glad we didn’t give in to Fiorentina.
I’m sick of all these clubs taking the Mick with us
Your not the only one!
They must see the Gunners as weak and foolish.
Arsenal’s transfer outgoings over the years, have made the gunners seem weak and foolish
Hopefully this sends a signal to other clubs that we’re not taking any shit these days!
The best signal would have been to have agreed a loan deal with an obligation to buy. I find it pretty bizarre we managed to do this for Guendouzi and Mavropanos (whose market value is now considerably in excess of what we agreed last summer) but we failed to do it for a player who we spent £26m on, hates London and therefore has no future at the club regardless of his talent, and was going to have a year left on his contract after 2 consecutive loans without purchase obligations. Yes we can all agree rejecting the low ball… Read more »
I thought we did. From reading around, Fiorentina let the obligation lapse, told us they had no interest in signing him permanently then a couple of days later they rang us up & said they’d changed their mind but would “only” be able to pay £4.5m. Did they think we’d forgotten the money they got for Vlahovic? Cabral & Ikone only cost them €35m to replace him
We have no way of knowing, but I’m guessing we negotiated loans with obligations to buy for Guendouzi & Mav because the clubs they were loaned out to agreed to those terms & Fiorentina didn’t. You can say that we should’ve only loaned him out to a club that agreed to an obligation to buy but that would’ve definitely limited the clubs on offer, especially when you take into account the clubs Torreira himself would’ve agreed to join. Basically we don’t know the ins & outs of the situation. All we know is that Arsenal & Torreira entered an agreement… Read more »
Truly mind-boggling. Why would teams accept ridiculously low obligatory prices for an up-and-coming player yet try to low ball even more for a soon-to-be out-of-contract, experienced player?
Because Torreira felt he deserved better but actually he overestimated how much other teams wanted him other than for a cheap stop gap solution. He probably needs an agent who understands that he needs a good club for his next move to save his career. Rather than keep telling him to try for the big bucks move. And that Arsenal were the highest he would ever be offered in wages. Wouldn’t be surprised if the agent kept telling him he can get just as good wages if not more if he keeps playing good. In the middle of a pandemic.… Read more »
Only 26. Extend his contract to protect his value and use him as a defensive mid if needed but dont bow down to these bullshit low ball bids anymore
Strongly agree with this
Seems little chance Torreira would extend though, especially after contract issues have stopped him making the move he wanted now.
If he’s forced to stay at Arsenal, I expect he’ll run down his final year and make the move he wants (for more money) when he leave on a free at the end of the season.
Why would he sign a contract extension if he‘s actively trying to get away for at least 2 seasons now and the only thing that prevents him from doing so is the fact that he HAS this contract?
Spot on! Tried to upvote this post twice, but they wouldn’t let me.
It won’t happen of course, but Arteta should swallow his pride here and bring the lad home.
We need a big squad this season and he could STILL do an excellent job for us. In my opinion, he should never have been loaned out in the first place. Cover for Thomas Partey? Look no further.
But, as I say, it won’t happen. When you’re out of favour with Arteta, that’s you done and dusted. A shame.
He doesn’t want to be here and he’s basically been whining since he came. He’s physically too small for the Premier League and seems a bit of a dick. Not the sort of person you need around a happy squad.There’ll be other buyers in Italy as he played well there, we need to get rid and also get the maximum price we can. Also never do business with Fiorentina again, lies about Vlahovic and bullshit over Torreira.
He doesn’t seem like a dick to me, and there are plenty of midfielders his size who do fine in the Premier League. He got lots of praise from Arsenal fans for his physical play and relentless pursuit, for his energy and conviction. But every reliable source says he doesn’t want to be in England. It’s not Arteta, it’s not playing time or money (both of which are available at mid-table Prem clubs, with the money certainly a lot better than he could get in Italy). Leno wants to stay in London (family reasons?); Giroud wouldn’t go to Germany, probably… Read more »
I do remember a couple of seasons ago, he had some family tragedy. Before that he had a brilliant time when he was popping up with crucial goals. He is not a typical defensive midfielder rather a Box to Box player who loves pressing.
Another important point is regarding the players from south America are generally Roman Catholics and prefer to go to Italy to be able to take their families to the Vatican.
I probably would’ve agreed a season or 2 ago but now he only has a year left on his contract, we need to move him on.
There’s no chance of him extending his contract to protect his value & honestly, I don’t think he’s particularly worth offering an extension.
Surely whatever agreement we had with Fiorentina was an obligation to buy. Why would we make it an option to buy and naively think that a pinky swear would be held up. Stupidity costing us again.
If it was an obligation they‘d have been obligated to buy him for that sum. So surely not.
Edu can book cheap flights
It’s not what we want in negotiations, it’s what both sides can agree on.
It baffles me how many ppl can’t grasp that concept.
Fiorentina likely just tried to call our bluff and eventually come back with the €15m fee.
If not, he should have plenty of suitors – €15m is a reasonable price. Maybe even his beloved Boca Juniors can afford him.
They reckoned they could “only” afford to pay £4.5m for him. As you’ve said, £15m is a reasonable price for a solid player who added goalscoring to his resume last season
I reckon they will come back with the €15m fee.
Would seem genuinely odd if they didn’t, wouldn’t it? That is if they haven’t already burned their bridges with the player.
I’m seriously surprised they’ve not tried to shift the blame to us, say we moved the goalposts at the last second & all that bollocks. I’m not even remotely surprised though, I called nearly this entire situation on a post on here last week
Fiorentina is run by clowns. Arteta & the player should sit down and see where he fits in the team next season.
Difficult part to that is, Torreira doesn’t wanna be turning up to London Colney 5 days a week anymore unfortunately
If a player wants to play for a club so bad, he can always buy himself out of his contract. 🙂
not in the UK they cant.
They can by mutual agreement, which in this case would be beneficial for both parties.
Fiorentina only want to pay €7m, so then Luca himself would personally have to fund the remaining €8m. Highly doubtful.
Maybe I’m reading too much into this but I am a little bit concerned about the last sentence.
“I wish you the best for the future. You will have one more fan cheering from wherever I have to be.”
More specifically the words “wherever I HAVE to be”. Is this a dig at Arsenal?
It’s like you are reading meaning to what is not there.😄
Even if we lose Lucas on a free next year, it is important to show something has changed at Arsenal and we won’t keep accepting low offers on players. He would be more useful in the squad than such a poor offer.
I can only think of Oxlade-Chamberlain and Iwobi having been good sales in recent years.
Would add Walcott and Willock, but it’s still a short list.
And Martinez. And, of non-selling clubs (in other words, not clubs like Southampton or Leicester), who has done better? If you exclude the one-off sale of a superstar who leaves even if the club wants him (Coutinho, Bale, Grealish), the list of Ox, Iwobi, Wlacott, Willock, and Martinez is as good as most clubs do.
I have no time for Italian clubs when it comes to business. Fiorentina just made 80m from the Vlahovic sale and are fucking around or €7m for Torreira who has done nothing but whine and cry since we signed him, just get 10m for him and move on. He’s a decent player but clearly doesn’t want to be here
Torreira is a whiny bitch, desperate to go to Boca last year, desperate to go to Fiorentina this year, but we shouldn’t let him leave for €10m.
Let’s stand our ground for a change. Someone else will pay €15m.
They won’t if he’s known to be a “whiny bitch”. His signing was supposed to be the answer for our midfield. The “new Kante” etc. I still think he’s a good player and wouldn’t mind him staying if he actually wanted to be here but given the situation I think we need to hold on for the duration of the summer on this transfer. Wait for some other moves to shake up the market, let Fiorentina get desperate and we’ll get closer to what we want for him from them or someone else. He should be more cautious about what… Read more »
I think the bid to go to Boca was a consequence of losing his mother and hoping to be nearer home at the time.
He has never been particularly difficult and wanted to leave Arsenal because he wasn’t getting game time.
Tiring state of affair. And Nketiah as well… is he in or out.
One year loan fee would be the same amount as Fiorentina willing to pay permanently. Not sure who they have in mind to play instead for so little money. If they loan a player for a fee then it would raise an eyebrow or two certainly. I wonder how much Torreira wages actually were. Makes you wonder how much excess there was in terms of wages, agents fees and transfer amount was gifted away by Raul and Gazidis. When we were purchasing players outright with cash discount upfront. To a model where we spread the payments for a higher overall… Read more »
Pretty certain Wenger didn’t quit
I liked him as a player when he first joined but later it seemed he was reluctant to get stuck in. If he’s going to mope, sob, and support a club’s attempt to lowball us, let him rot for a year and then leave on a free. Rather do that then bend over backwards for him.
We could do with Torreira next season
Comes across as a little self obsessed twat the last few years. Kicking a cocking ball around.
Boo hoo me all the time. I want to play in in Italy blah fucking blah.
Feck off then and earn real money – ie not fucking 3 fucking million a year or what ever.
Try doing what I do for for 20 grand.
Twat
You’ve certainly got a point! Get back to London and get on with being a millionaire footballer, then leave on a free next year if you still want to. It isn’t the worst hand someone has ever been dealt.
Fiorentina probably just tried to call our bluff but at the same time they cant really be that interested in keeping him.
”people acting bad” are purple