Arsenal: Lucas Torreira more than scrappy persona

Lucas Torreira is often pictured as a scrappy, disruptive, industrious midfielder. He is all of those things. But the Arsenal star is not just those things. There is more to his game than that.

When Arsenal put out the search for a new, anchoring midfielder in the summer, a position of great need for many years, they were searching for a player with the same type of game-breaking qualities that the player they narrowly failed to sign on two prior occasions, N’Golo Kante.

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Scrappy, an excellent tackler, a reader of the game, a player that makes a great number of interceptions, ball recoveries and forces errant passes and turnovers. Someone who is capable of screening the defence against counter-attacks and remaining disciplined and compact when defending deep.

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In Lucas Torreira, Arsenal signed that precise player. Is he as influential as Kante? Perhaps not. Not yet, anyway There is still a long way to go considering that he is just 22 and is still in his first season in the Premier League. But he is built very much in the same ilk, and not just because he is small and fast. He shares the same intelligence, sense of danger and awareness as the French World Cup winner.

However, like Kante, it would be a disservice to limit Torreira to being merely a defensive midfielder with the sole task of defending, forcing turnovers and then allowing those more talented teammates to progress the ball and create attacking moves. Torreira is more than the small, scrappy, South American stereotype.

And he is proving it this season. As assistant coach Steve Bould said this week when asked about Torreira’s willingness and ability to do the ‘dirty work’, ‘He does enjoy it, but he’s much, much more than that.’ Torreira is more than just a servant to undergo the dirty work that more talented players cannot be bothered to do.

He has great skill on the ball. He can spin away from the pressure with smart dribbling. His passing is vastly underrated, playing both safely, with control, and also with progression and attacking purpose. And he understands the importance of being more than just a tackler. He does not just think that his job is to win the ball back and then relax. He looks to release the ball forwards as quickly as possible when he does recover possession.

No Arsenal player has a higher pass completion rate in the Premier League this season. Only Granit Xhaka is playing more passes per 90 minutes. And he is dispossessed only 0.5 times per 90 minutes. Of Arsenal players that have been dispossessed at least once this season, only Nacho Monreal and Shkodran Mustafi have a better per-90-minute rate.

Torreira is a scrappy, disruptive, industrious midfielder. He is all of those things. But he is not just those things. There is more to his game than that, and that is what makes him such a valuable asset at the heart of this team.