Lucas Torreira looks set to leave Arsenal in the summer and the Uruguayan appears to send a come-and-get-me-plea to his dream club, Boca Juniors.
He has always said he dreamt of playing for the Argentine giants and would love to turn out for them one day.
His time in Europe has been going downhill for some time now as he struggles for playing time on loan at Atletico Madrid.
The Spaniards look unlikely to keep him on after his current loan spell and he would probably not get another chance under Mikel Arteta when he returns to Arsenal.
He has a long-standing interest from the Serie A where the likes of Fiorentina and Torino have been linked with a move for him.
However, following his mother’s death from covid-19 recently, the former Sampdoria man appears to be fed up with life in Europe and now wants to be closer to home.
In a recent interview, he declared that he wants to play for Boca Juniors and not for another European team.
‘It’s not a crazy decision because of my mother. I have always said that I want to play for Boca. I’m dying to play for Boca and I will always say it” a tearful Torreira told ESPN Futbol Club Argentina on Thursday as quoted by Mail Sport.
‘The night my mother died, one of the first to hear the news was my agent. I don’t want to play in Europe anymore, I want to play for Boca.
‘I want to be close to my family. My father, crying, told me that it was time to play for Boca. I always liked Boca, I’m yet to experience La Bombonera, it’s something that I have deep inside me and I have to indulge myself.
‘Hopefully things become clear soon, I have to go back and focus on Atletico. I’m more than proud, I’m calm, my team-mates have supported me.
‘I have to be there, no matter how much it hurts, as there’s a month and a half of competition left. Hopefully, I can end up winning La Liga.’
Torreira cost Arsenal 27mill.
He is on 75k p/w.
Nobody really wants him.
He says he wants to play in Argentina.
They won’t pay even 5mill for him.
So now nobody will pay his salary
let alone a transfer fee as well.
But he has a rock solid contract with Arsenal two more seasons.
Unless someone takes pity on him
Arsenal are going to lose big time
on yet another failed transfer.
Boca could perhaps afford his salary but you’re right, there is no way they would offer a transfer fee for him. I suspect that he’s angling for a loan there next year with the agreement that he’ll be sold at the end of the season, at which point Carlos Tevez will have likely retired and the club will hope to have found buyers for Pavon and possibly Zeballos, as well as a couple of others.
Boca Juniors do not pay transfer fees as basically they are, and always have been, completely broke. They will only pay half his wages if he’s loaned to them and then we will never get a fee for him from anyone.
They are not the strongest financially, but rather than being completely broke they suffer from mismanagement and corruption, like most Argentine clubs (and in fact society). They have paid fees of 5-10million in the past, and it shouldn’t be forgotten that it is not often that a player of Torreira’s quality and age is willing to move to argentina from Europe, so you would expect the fees for older/lower-quality players to be lower anyway. Of course Boca will plead poverty in any negotiations, and like i said i personally expect him to go on loan there next year. Then expect a PR battle as Arsenal are cast as the bad guys if we don’t let him stay in Buenos Aires when the loan finishes.
Are there any Boca players who could interest Arsenal?Could we use Torrerria to facilitate a deal?
The two i mentioned above, Pavon and Zeballos would seem the most likely, but I’m not personally convinced by either (at least yet in Zeballos’s case). There are a couple of others, Almendra and Maroni, that may move to Europe, but i doubt we would be interested in them at the moment.
Arsenal cannot win, we’ll be portrayed as heartless or stupid (or both) depending on the outcome of any transfer, temporary or otherwise.