Arsenal: Lucas Torreira renders wayward Steven N'Zonzi talk obsolete

Arsenal’s midfield may have found their solution in Lucas Torreira, so let’s leave it at that and set all this Steven N’Zonzi nonsense aside.

There is a very particular crowd of Arsenal supporters that simply love the idea of Steven N’Zonzi coming to the club. This is something I just can’t wrap my head around. I understand the desire to have a ‘rip-roaring’ midfield destroyer, because we haven’t had one in awhile. But there’s a reason why we haven’t had one in awhile.

And it’s not just because Arsene Wenger was too stubborn to buy one. Although that certainly factors into it.

Wenger made it clear that he was not keen on defensive midfielders. He didn’t see the use for using a midfield position solely to help defend. While it’s hard to argue against improving the defense in any way after last year, I still think his general ideal holds true.

The game just doesn’t have many strictly defensive midfielders anymore, and the ones that are are smaller, like N’Golo Kante, and are adept at winning the ball back with the ability to drive forward using speed and low centers of gravity to protect the ball.

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N’Zonzi isn’t that. Lucas Torreira is that. Torreira is the midfielder that we need, not N’Zonzi. Because Torreira is exactly the kind of deep-lying midfielder that’s fashionable with what the Gunners are trying to do with their midfield.

And what they are trying to do is not hand-cuff themselves with a one-dimensional guy like N’Zonzi. If we wanted that, we could have just kept Francis Coquelin, who wasn’t all that far from N’Zonzi.

Torreira is a step above that self-imposed handcuff. Again, unless the idea is to use N’Zonzi as a rotational option, in which case why didn’t we just keep Coquelin?

I totally get why people would want a mean midfielder, but we actually have a growing collection of ‘mean’ players around the pitch, so if that is the only goal, then call it accomplished.

N’Zonzi just doesn’t have the dynamism that we should be expecting from any and all Arsenal players. I prefer Mohamed Elneny, honestly, because at least I know what we can expect out of him. And he always delivers.

Next: 3 Players Ainsley Maitland-Niles May Be Replacing

N’Zonzi is 29 years old, he isn’t getting any younger, he is a limited player who would cost actual money in a cut-budget year. Why mire the midfield in an unnecessary new signing when Lucas Torreira is more than enough?

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Arsenal: Lucas Torreira renders wayward Steven N’Zonzi talk obsolete

By Josh Sippie | Jun 16, 2018

Arsenal’s midfield may have found their solution in Lucas Torreira, so let’s leave it at that and set all this Steven N’Zonzi nonsense aside.

More from Pain in the Arsenal