Arsenal loanee Lucas Torreira is starting to break into the Fiorentina team, and he plans to give his best to make the fans happy.
After last season’s loan to Atletico Madrid, Lucas Torreira’s situation was starting to become a bit worrying. He’d dropped out of the team at Arsenal, failed to play much at all at Atletico, so he really needed his loan to Fiorentina to go well.
As a result, there was some concern when the midfielder only played 66 minutes of the first three games he was available for this season.
The Uruguay international sat on the bench against Torino, he was substituted early in a start against Atalanta, then dropped back to the bench in Genoa.
Fortunately, the 25-year-old has since put together consecutive starts. He played 65 minutes in a start against Inter Milan, then 83 minutes in a win over Udinese.
That Udinese showing was possibly his most impressive, as he won all four of his individual duels, completed both of his long passes and 89% of his passes overall, and made two interceptions and two tackles without being dribbled past.
Speaking afterwards, Torreira admitted he has competition for places in the squad, but he believes Fiorentina manager Vincenzo Italiano is trying to give everyone a chance.
“It has been a busy week with three games, but Fiorentina have many important players, and Italiano always tries to involve everyone,” Torreira said (via Sport Witness).
“For my part, I try to give my best with the help of my teammates and the atmosphere, who have welcomed me here really well: I want to be happy here, and make the fans happy.”
Viola Nation report to Daily Cannon that Italiano does often rotate his squad heavily, and he has another solid holding midfielder in Erick Pulgar. So it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Torreira dipping in and out a bit.
On top of that, Torreira wasn’t the only one to have a slow start to the season.
The likes of Nico Gonzalez and Gaetano Castrovilli were in similar situations to Torreira after featuring in international tournaments over the summer, and they both started games on the bench for Fiorentina at first too.
It seems there’s little to worry about right now. Torreira already looks more likely to be involved regularly than he was last season, and that should help him get the transfer he wants next summer.