Lucas Torreira’s situation with Atletico Madrid is starting to become a bit of a concern, after another week of football without a start.

When Lucas Torreira initially joined Atletico Madrid on loan, he jumped straight into the starting lineup. He played 90 minutes in a win over Celta Vigo, then another 45 against Real Betis before coming off at half-time.

That was on October 24th, and he hasn’t started another match since then. In fairness, the midfielder missed three games after a positive coronavirus test, but he made the squad for a further six matches without starting any of them.

This week, Atletico faced Bayern in Torreira’s first game back, and he didn’t make it off the bench. Then they played Real Valladolid on Saturday, and he came on for the final 13 minutes.

For now, I guess we give Diego Simeone the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he just didn’t want to throw Torreira back into the action after his infection without easing him in for a couple of games.

But it seems more likely the manager just doesn’t plan to start the 24-year-old regularly. Again, this was already going on for four games of substitute appearances before the illness absence.

Torreira has started as many games for Uruguay as Atletico since his loan, and that can’t be a good thing for the player. Nor for Arsenal, who don’t need one of their sellable assets sitting on the bench at another club for a year.