Arsenal: Lucas Torreira has early advantage over N’Golo Kante

Arsenal have needed an N’Golo Kante type for awhile, and Lucas Torreira may be that man, but that’s forgetting one of Torreira’s key attributes.

Comparisons are a pain in the arse. I’m still convinced that Granit Xhaka‘s lack of support among the Arsenal faithful stems from him simply not being Patrick Vieira, as far too many fans expected him to be.

As such, I hate when new signings are compared to people, especially when that comparison breeds more expectations than necessary.

Lucas Torreira is getting his first comparison, and it is to Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante.

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While Torreira hasn’t officially been announced by the club yet, and likely won’t be until his World Cup campaign with Uruguay is over, Sampdoria’s president announced that Torriera was indeed sold for a fee that happened to be the exact price the Gunners were rumored to have paid.

So it’s pretty much a done deal.

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Anyway, this comparison stems from the show that everyone loves to hate, Arsenal Fan TV. There is some merit in the comparison. After all, they are both small, combative midfielders with tremendous engines and athleticism, who love to win the ball back. That much is undeniable and that makes them similar.

Both have similar ball-winning numbers, with Kante having a slight advantage, but Torreira has an advantage in another crucial category – scoring goals.

Torreira was once the next Carlos Tevez. His combative style was deployed as a striker at a young age and it’s not like he has simply forfeited all of those abilities. He still has good free kick abilities and scored four goals last year for Sampdoria.

That’s more goals than Kante has scored in his entire Premier League career.

Torreira would have been exactly what Arsene Wenger wanted too. He’s not straight defensive, though that is his primary draw. Instead he boasts ball-winning abilities in tandem with his ability to threaten the opposing goal.

He creates just as many chances as Kante too, and you have to wonder how that will translate (in the form of assists) when Torreira is put around superior attacking talent than what he had at his disposal in Serie A.

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Comparisons are dicey. Especially when you start invoking the dream target of a lot of Gooners – N’Golo Kante. But Torreira has the tools to live up to that comparison while, at the same time, establishing that he is even more than that. Not to mention that he is five years younger.