Arsenal: Lucas Torreira’s career has a lot of looking up to do

Lucas Torreira’s future at Arsenal couldn’t be more muddled, but he has a lot yet to offer. Hopefully, this career of his can start looking up.

Lucas Torreira was probably one of the most exciting signings Arsenal have made in ages. Finally, a dogged midfielder with the work ethic of a true champ and the tenacity of an N’Golo Kante. Exactly what we’ve been dreaming of for years.

But it hasn’t been all wine and roses. Or beer and tulips. Or whiskey and daffodils. Not that he hasn’t been effective on the pitch, but he just hasn’t jived with the culture in North London. And here we are finishing his second year and he’s still struggling with it.

In his first year at the club, he openly struggled with settling. That’s alright. England is no Italy. It happens. But it took all year and he still made no indication that he had settled.

What’s worse, after that one year, his agent was lining up moves back to Italy. AC Milan emerged as a potential suitor among others, but when no move materialized, Torreira came out and said that he was going to stay and fight it out.

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Okay, great. Faith reinvested. He was going to settle in at last.

All year this year, there’s been talk that Torreira will be sold in his second summer now. And to add to the confusion and frustration, Torreira opened up about playing for Boca one day and how Old Trafford was his favorite place in England to play.

Now, maybe he took the question to mean what was his favorite place to play outside of the Emirates. I’ll grant him that benefit of the doubt. But throughout his two years here, I don’t recall him ever mentioning much about him enjoying his time, and that kind of is a big deal. We see so much of guys like Aubameyang and Lacazette having a good time, and there are plenty of other examples. But Torreira just is not jiving in North London, and that brings up some serious concerns about his long term future.

Not everyone is going to fit in. But you can’t force it. Torreira is on the outside looking in as is, not even including the injury problems he’s had. If he wants a career here at Arsenal, it needs to start turning up fast. Especially considering the links to Thomas Partey.