Lucas Torreira’s agent, Pablo Bentancur, has explained that AC Milan, as we know, tried to land his client in the summer but that Raul Sanllehi told the Italians their not-for-sale position was unshakable.
Speaking to MilanNews.it, the former Uruguayan midfielder said, “There was an interest as well as other clubs. But we got together with the Gunners general manager, Raul Sanllehi, and he immediately told us that for Arsenal, Torreira was not for sale, an unshakable position that also gave us pleasure to say: Milan did not present a real concrete offer, perhaps because they knew what the player’s Arsenal thoughts [were].”
Over this international break, Bentancur, also spoke about Napoli’s interest in the player, before he moved to Arsenal, explaining how he ended up in London over Naples.
He also admitted that the 23-year-old, like the rest of us, is not happy at how he is being used by Unai Emery. “In the new role,” Bentacur said, “he is not at ease, but we respect the coach’s decision, then we’ll see what happens.
“Torreira is doing well at Arsenal, even if the change of role does not make him happy, but it must be said that this year the whole team is not doing well.”
Meanwhile, speaking to Calciomercato, Bentancur was asked which teams might try to sign Torreira and he said, “I don’t want to name the teams out of respect, but I can tell you that Atletico had tried to take Lucas from Sampdoria two years ago.
“I must say that the change of role has penalised him sharply. He is no longer at ease and we hope that things can change.
“We have no problem with Arsenal but only words of thanks. Arsenal has allowed Lucas to compete in the Premier League, he has always been shown great confidence.
“Clearly there’s interest for Torreira, especially from Spanish clubs, but I have never sat down with any club to talk about his transfer.
“This is because of the great respect we have for the Gunners and their general manager Raul Sanllehi.”
Arsenal are said to be keen to give Emery until the end of the season, however as of writing, bookmakers have him at 6/4 odds of being the next Premier League manager to be sacked. If sports betting isn’t your thing, you may want to check out some of the casino games on Casumo.com.
Should Arsenal they fail to qualify for the Champions League again, the Spaniard will most likely be shown the door, but he could well be followed by a host of players fed up waiting to play in Europe’s elite competition and not prepared to see out another rebuild under a new coach.
Along with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, Arsenal would be advised to be mindful of Lucas Torreira as well.