Torino have not given up hope of signing Lucas Torreira despite Arsenal turning down an offer from them in the summer.

Lucas Torreira headed to Atletico Madrid on loan in the summer but when Arsenal snagged Thomas Partey, the La Liga side brought in Geoffrey Kondogbia.

As as a result, it is believed that Lucas Torreria’s presence is not as important as it would have been had they not been able to replace Partey, despite the Uruguyan playing in all Atletico’s matches. He has, however, only started two of their matches, completing just 199 minutes, 643 fewer than Mohamed Elneny has played for Arsenal this season.

AS report that Torino plan to push to sign the former Sampdoria player on a permanent deal in January after being rebuffed in the summer.

Torino’s coach, Marco Giampaolo is said to hold the 24-year-old in ‘high regard’ but Torreira would have to give up the chance of playing in the Champions League with Atletico Madrid should he move.

Torreira, for his part, has shown no unhappiness at being in Madrid.

His contract with Arsenal expires in 2023 and Torreira is currently valued at around £27m.

Do Atletico Madrid have an option to buy Lucas Torreria?

by Dan Critchlow

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.