Arsenal: Matteo Guendouzi has swapped roles with Lucas Torreira

Arsenal fans expected marquee signing Lucas Torreira to be the difference maker in the midfield, but he hasn’t been. Matteo Guendouzi has.

Arsenal’s midfield needed to be whipped into shape following last year. There was a lot of positivity regarding the attacking side of things, but athletically, they didn’t have a lot to brag about and defensively, they had even less.

That’s why the club bought Lucas Torreira as soon as his fantastic World Cup campaign ended. The Uruguayan was quite popular during the Cup, as he fought his way into the starting XI, earned his stay, and then proceeded to pocket Ronaldo, of all people.

Throw that into the Gunner’s midfield, and all our problems are solved, right? That’s how it was supposed to work. Everything he did for Uruguay could just be transplanted to the Emirates and all our problems would be solved.

Only it hasn’t worked that way. Torreira has been okay. I would say that he has nailed the defensive side of things, but he was massively guilty for letting Alonso track into the box, unmarked, for the winning goal against Chelsea. Xhaka apologists like myself have been pointing out that had Granit Xhaka done the same, he would have been crucified by everyone. Literally everyone.

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Sure, Torreira needs time to learn and acclimate to the Premier League, but tracking runs after just 40 minutes on the pitch isn’t something Premier League specific. It’s something that all footballers need.

I’m not here to criticize Torreira though (even though I already have). I’m here to point out that the midfield has gotten part of the infusion that it needed. It just didn’t come in the form of Torreira, but in the form of the much cheaper and much more under the radar Matteo Guendouzi.

Thus far, the Frenchman has done everything I wanted Torreira to do. He has had the highest energy on the pitch, he’s averaging eight ball-winnings per game and he has even showed an effectiveness going forward.

I don’t care how we got to where we are, we are now there. Guendouzi was supposed to be the bonus to Torreira, but now it’s looking more like the opposite. Torreira is the bonus to Guendouzi. Which is awesome, because Torreira definitely has the more illustrious resume, so it feels like only a matter of time with him.

Now if we can just win a game, life will be good.