Lucas Torreira doesn’t have a purchase option in his Atletico Madrid contract, despite reports to the contrary, according to the player’s agent.

Pablo Bentancur, agent to Lucas Torreira, denies the existence of a purchase option in the player’s loan contract with Atletico Madrid this season.

Up until now, we were all under the impression Torreira was joining the Spanish club on a season-long loan with an option to buy around €22m. However, it appears that’s not the case.

“Lucas’ operation was very complicated,” Bentancur told 100% Deporte (via Sport890). “It is a loan operation for one year, without a purchase option.”

It’s hard to see why Bentancur would lie about that. You’d assume he knows all the details as the player’s agent. So I guess the earlier reports on the option to buy were just a mistake.

This is probably good news for Arsenal, now we know Thomas Partey is joining. Atletico will need to give Torreira games in Partey’s absence, which will hopefully drive his market value up.

At the end of the season, Arsenal can negotiate a sale with Atletico or any other club whose interest he piques. That leaves the potential for a much larger sale if he really impresses.

If the midfielder doesn’t do well, Atletico probably wouldn’t have activated the clause anyway. That’s always the issue with these purchase clauses. They need a set of really specific circumstances to make it worthwhile for the selling club.