Italian sports director Marcello Donatelli has branded Arsenal new signing Lucas Torreira as the second best midfielder in Europe behind Sergio Busquets.
The Uruguayan joined the Gunners earlier this month for a reported fee of £26.4million, becoming Unai Emery’s fifth signing of the summer. He will add defensive quality to the Arsenal squad which already has Granit Xhaka who has had a disappointing campaign under Arsenal Wenger.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Donatelli said, “His technique, his determination, and his tactical intelligence always impressed me. He has always been strong in understanding those defensive tactical aspects and he is very mature tactically in terms of how he reads the game.”
“He can cope with the gaps that emerge in midfield with great intelligence and he covers very well. He is the one who corrects the spaces and cuts out the passes between the lines in the defensive phase. After Sergio Busquets, he is tactically the strongest midfielder in Europe,” he added.
Torreira is yet to link up with the rest of the squad as he was given a three week off after the World Cup tournament in Russia.
Torreira spent the last two seasons at Sampdoria, making 71 appearances and scoring four goals and quickly became a fan favorite.
after coming to England, Arsenal head coach Unai Emery has hailed the ‘great quality’ of Lucas Torreira after the midfielder completed a move from Sampdoria. Torreira, 22, becomes Emery’s fourth signing in charge of the Gunners after Stephan Lichtsteiner, Bernd Leno and Sokratis Papastathopoulos all joined the club in recent weeks.
It’s understood Arsenal agreed a fee of around £26.4million for Torreira and the Uruguay international will wear the No. 11 shirt at the Emirates next season. The midfielder impressed at the summer’s World Cup before Uruguay’s elimination and Emery is confident that he has signed a young player with experience.
Asked about Arsenal’s latest signing, Emery told the club’s official website: ‘In Lucas Torreira, we have signed a young player who is a very bright talent in the game.
A midfielder with great quality, I have enjoyed watching his performances for Sampdoria in the past two seasons, and we all saw him do very well for Uruguay in the World Cup. ‘He is a young player already with good experience, but who wants to keep on growing. ‘We welcome Lucas to Arsenal and look forward to him joining us soon for pre-season.’
After the Pescara loan expired, the player returned to Sampdoria on 1 July 2016. On 21 August 2016, Torreira made his Serie A debut in their opening game against Empoli at the Stadio Carlo Castellani. He started the game and played the entirety of the 90+ minutes on the field.
He became a regular for Sampdoria in the 2016–17 season, and continued showing his importance to the team in the 2017–18 season; scoring vital goals, including the second goal in Sampdoria’s 3–2 win over Juventus in November.
After a summer of speculation, Torreira joined English club Arsenal on 10 July 2018 for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £26.4m. Upon the completion of the signing, head coach Unai Emery said “In Lucas Torreira, we have signed a young player who is a very bright talent in the game. A midfielder with great quality, I have enjoyed watching his performances for Sampdoria in the past two seasons, and we all saw him do very well for Uruguay in the World Cup. He is a young player already with good experience, but who wants to keep on growing.” Torreira was given the number 11 shirt, previously worn by Mesut Özil, who took the vacant number 10, following the departure of Jack Wilshere