Atletico Madrid don’t intend to let Lucas Torreira leave in January, contrary to certain reports in the last few days.

TMW reported on Monday that Lucas Torreira and Atletico Madrid were set to part ways in January, with the midfielder failing to meet expectations on his loan spell. However, reports from Spain refute this claim.

Matteo Moretto writes that Atletico do not intend to let Torreira leave in January.

Moretto appears to have connections within Atletico, though some Arsenal fans will remember him calling the Thomas Partey transfer incorrectly this summer. In his defence, that was because Arsenal didn’t inform Atletico of their transfer plans until deadline day.

Mikel Arteta also addressed the reports surrounding Torreira at the moment, though he didn’t really give too much away.

Arteta said: “We have been dealing with that situation, but again, when the market opens and we have the possibility to bring players in and get players out, whatever we have to do, we will discuss it. I cannot comment on that.”

The reason the initial report was so believable is that Torreira is genuinely struggling to break into the Atletico starting lineup.

As we wrote recently, he hasn’t made a start since October 24th, despite appearing in the squad eight times since then. He’s only spent 67 minutes on the pitch in over a month, even accounting for the two weeks he missed through Covid.

So, perhaps Atletico haven’t decided to send him back yet, but it’s a situation Arsenal do need to look at ahead of the January window.