Arsenal: Lucas Torreira injury requires patience

Lucas Torreira has fractured his ankle. As a timeframe is constructed for the Arsenal midfielder’s return, patience is required to allow him to fully recover.

It looked nasty from the moment Lucas Torreira crashed to the floor, turned, and thudded his arm, straining in pain. The Arsenal midfielder had burst forward from midfield to collect a ball in the inside-left channel. Portsmouth defender James Bolton came hurtling over from a central position, lunging into a tackle to clear out both the ball and Torreira. It was a firm but fair challenge.

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Unfortunately, Torreira’s right ankle was awkwardly caught between Bolton’s legs, and as Bolton slid forward along the ground, Torreira’s ankle twisted.

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On Thursday, Arsenal confirmed the worst: Torreira had fractured his right ankle. In an official statement, the club provided details on the injury:

"“Right ankle. Sustained fracture to right ankle during Portsmouth (a) on Monday. Awaiting further specialist reviews which will determine recovery plan.”"

Then, in his pre-match press conference, head coach Mikel Arteta provided a little more exposition:

"“He was quite positive this morning. I spoke with him and he was in pain. We don’t really know exactly the extent of the injury. He needs to see the specialist tomorrow here in London and we will know more about it.”"

Quite what the timeframe of recovery is remains to be seen, but it is fair to assume that it will be a few months and could rule the Uruguayan out of the remainder of the season. That would be hugely frustrating given the unique qualities that he brings to the central midfield, but as Arsenal navigate his return, they must focus on his long-term availability and future.

Torreira only turned 24 last month. While he has largely been a first-team starter since his arrival almost two seasons ago, the ankle-snapping midfielder is still approaching his prime years and is thought of as a sustained presence in the Arsenal midfield, not someone to simply fill out the team in the short term. As such, ensuring that Torreira is fully recovered before returning is of the utmost importance.

In fact, it would not be entirely unwise to shut down the Uruguayan for the rest of the season. With the new season not set to start until mid-August, that would give him six months to fully recover before competitive action again — five months if you are including preseason training. The current campaign will end in three months. Rushing him back before then when you have plenty of other midfield options to turn to is silly, to say the least.

Torreira’s ankle injury is hugely unfortunate. It was nasty at the time and the ramifications are not much better. But rushing him back would only worsen the entire situation. It might be best to shut him down and let him recover properly. After all, there is more football to be played than just the next game.