Here's the Athletic article.
When Arsenal first set about targeting a pivotal new defensive midfielder for the post-Arsene Wenger world, the hit list boiled down to two sizeably different players. Unai Emery wanted Steven Nzonzi. It is normal practice for any coach to lean towards the tried and tested, someone familiar and trusted, where the player-coach relationship is guaranteed from past experience which they shared at Sevilla. Arsenal’s recruitment experts bought another name to the table: Lucas Torreira.
The presentation turned out to be a masterclass – and it needed to be – of how the two main strands that make up modern scouting, scientific data and human observations, can collaborate. Let’s just say Emery needed some convincing to leave his comfort zone on this one.
The most obvious contrast between Nzonzi and Torreira can be measured in around an entire foot, or almost 12 inches, vertically. Emery’s preferred prototype for a holding midfielder is someone physically imposing enough to head away high balls before they reach the defence. Nzonzi possesses the aerial power expected of a man who stands a fraction over 6ft 4in tall in his socks. Torreira is such a different mould he famously won a tackle against Cristiano Ronaldo at the 2018 World Cup by improvising to head the ball, grass level, away from his opponent’s feet.
Last summer, before he had even coached his first Arsenal game, while work was under way behind the scenes to try to introduce the first phase of squad reform, the discussions about transfer strategy were critical. They were after a goalkeeper, defensive reinforcements and new thrust from defensive midfield.
Torreira had been identified by both Sven Mislintat, then Arsenal’s head of recruitment, and their analytics expert Jaeson Rosenfeld. After researching the markets in very different ways, both prioritised Torreira, whose figures for ball recoveries, tackling, retaining possession and moving the game forwards quickly while he played for Sampdoria in Serie A, were outstanding. Rosenfeld’s analysis of the numbers were compelling. Mislintat’s opinion brought the personal touch, having observed matches, studied video footage, and met enough people face-to-face to form a rounded character assessment.
Finally, the age profile of the two players made Torreira, aged 22 at the time compared to Nzonzi’s 29, the logical choice in terms of potential for improvement and enhanced resale value. He fits strategically, in line with the bulk of Arsenal’s recent transfers such as Matteo Guendouzi and Bernd Leno last summer, and Nicolas Pepe, Kieran Tierney, Dani Ceballos, William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli this. Older players only come in when strictly necessary.
All in all, it was enough to convince Emery that it was – to borrow the phrase Arsenal adopted for their official welcome slogan once the deal had been struck – time for Torreira.
The Uruguayan cut short his post-World Cup summer to join up so he could begin his integration early. He instantly came across as a happy, humble, hard-working person who loves his football and is determined to do well. “I’m the kind of person who likes to fight for these things, to always be fighting my way up, like my dad always tells me,” he says. Early impressions were positive, even if Torreira had to be patient before he got the chance to really explode.
The detonator was the north London derby.
There are times, as football emotion careers over the edge of reason, when it is worth taking a booking. Torreira found himself in that situation when Arsenal played Tottenham last season. The game was wild. The scoreline swung this way and that. Goals punctuated a backdrop of tension, arguments, fear, vulnerability, enmity, desperation. In the latter stages, Arsenal had hauled themselves from behind to lead 3-2 but it was all still frantic enough to be anyone’s game. Then, Torreira burst into the box at a narrow angle, kept his eye on the ball, and lashed his first goal for Arsenal past Hugo Lloris. Now it was done. Tearing off his shirt and roaring at the skies, his impassioned celebration was well worth the yellow card.
Back home in Uruguay, 6,800 miles away at a butcher’s shop in his home town of Fray Bentos called “La 34”, Torreira’s father Ricardo lost himself in the moment. Behind the counter covered with slabs of meat, with the TV mounted in the corner above the shop window, his voice cracked and he repeated “Golazo, noma!” Golazo, simple as that. Ricardo was overwhelmed.
Ricardo Torreira is one of 14 siblings. He wanted to be a footballer but set off for the capital Montevideo and found ways to get by. He sold newspapers, picking up a bundle of El Pais at 5am and selling until 9am before starting his shift as a cleaner. He returned to Fray Bentos, a harbour town near the Argentine border with a population of 24,000, got married at the age of 18 and had six children. Lucas is the second-youngest.
Ricardo made extra money recording radio adverts and later went into commentating. As his son began to excel as a footballer, there were moments he would describe for the residents of Fray Bentos the matches involving Lucas as his burgeoning career took off.
At the age of 17, Torreira left Uruguay for Italy to join Pescara’s youth team. Back then, he was an attacking player but the coaches in Italy sensed a different way to harness his instinctive tenacity and control in tight spaces. Torreira began to flourish in midfield, ferreting for possession, and projecting the game with a forward pass in a flash. He was loved at Sampdoria, which is where he caught Arsenal’s gaze.
That match against Tottenham felt like a game-changer. It was a high point since he moved to London. His battling, streetwise performance, crowned by that emotionally-drenched goal and celebration, crystallised everything Arsenal wanted from a more feisty, high-energy midfield fulcrum than they had been used to.
The crowd savoured a new cult hero. They adapted the song that had honoured their finest modern midfield player, Patrick Vieira. “He comes from Uruguay. He’s only five foot high.” Torreira was chuffed, calling it “a beautiful thing.” Everything seemed set fair. He felt well integrated and focused.
Then, after Christmas, Torreira’s form dipped. His influence waned over the second half of last season. It was puzzling. He suddenly felt dog tired. He was less aggressive, less mobile, less involved than at his peak. A lot of things caught up on him; his short summer after the massive adrenaline of an excellent breakthrough World Cup, ploughing through the madness of the festive football season in the Premier League for the first time, a bit of a crash after the honeymoon of a whirlwind few months since joining Arsenal. Physically and mentally, he was jaded.
It is not uncommon for a player arriving from a European league with a winter break to feel the toll hit hard around February and March. Torreira revived himself enough to contribute to the Europa League run that took Arsenal to the final but at the end of it all, crushed by Chelsea in Baku, he left the pitch in a flood of tears.
Time for Torreira? As it turned out, Torreira needed a bit more time than first thought to work his way through the challenges of his first season in England. Now, he looks primed to kickstart, as he showed with the kind of cameo against Liverpool that begged the question as to why he didn’t start the game, or why he wasn’t introduced at half-time to try to seize better control of a situation that Liverpool commanded too easily around the edge of the Arsenal box.
Torreira has not started a match yet this season. Emery has given him 36 minutes in total. He is one of a number of players whose pre-season was impacted by an international tournament and that can understandably play a part in team selection. Torreira was on Copa America duty until late June. For comparison, though, his fellow midfielder Matteo Guendouzi was with the France under-21s until a similar time during the summer and has played 266 minutes for Arsenal this season. Nicolas Pepe was with the Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations until quite a lot later, mid-July, and has played 153 minutes of his maiden campaign in England.
Does this tell us something about how Emery regards Torrerira? Has he ever felt fully content about coming so far away from the prototype of a taller defensive midfield player? Might that still be a factor? The players selected in midfield for Arsenal’s most recent match at Anfield, where crosses were an obvious part of the picture, were all taller than Torreira, even if he has qualities some of his team-mates don’t so readily possess.
One thing Arsenal now have in midfield that they had lacked for a while is proper competition for places and a variety of types to choose from. Torreira is different to Granit Xhaka, who is different to Joe Willock, who is different to Ceballos, who is different to Guendouzi. If Emery wants to use his best attacking talents with Pepe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette all raring to go, then getting the midfield balance right behind that is vitally important.
Emery likes to try to pick the right blend for different match situations but it will be fascinating to see how he chooses to use Torreira in the coming weeks. In the background is the knowledge that the player is an asset with improved market value, particularly in Italy. He needs his fair share of game time and having put one season of adaptation behind him, should be in a good place to make a stronger and more lasting impact this season.
Torreira walks into training at London Colney every day clutching his mate, the high-caffeine beverage South American players are rarely seen without. It brings a daily taste of home. It represents a connection with his roots. His own mate – the cup from which he drinks – was made specially and is engraved with the names of his parents, his brother’s initials, the number he first wore, a football, and the flag of Uruguay. He feels bonded to his origins but also mixes happily with his team-mates at Arsenal.
His attitude is unchanged in the sense that he is keen to work hard, serve the team, and feel a part of it all. He describes his role as “always lending a hand, sacrificing in defence and in attack. I am available to the team, always helping.”
As N’golo Kante has demonstrated in winning the Premier League and World Cup not so long ago, size need not be everything in that specialist position. Torreira relishes the opportunity to state his case, to try to scale the heights, once again against Tottenham this weekend.
