Lucas Torreira left the Arsenal pre-season tour camp to travel to Italy this week, according to a report.
When Arsenal announced their team news for the friendly match against Orlando City on Wednesday night, Lucas Torreira was an unexplained absentee.
There have been multiple injury absences during pre-season so far, so many assumed that was the case again for Torreira.
But Arsenal442 report that the player actually left the Arsenal camp in the last couple of days.
Torreira reportedly travelled to Italy to address some personal matters, though Arsenal442 stop short of confirming that this relates to an imminent transfer.
After spending the last year in Italy, it’s not impossible that some other emergency drew him back to the country temporarily. But it obviously adds to the speculation that he’ll be moving to Serie A this summer.
Mikel Arteta had called Torreira back for pre-season, reportedly to get a better look at him before making a final decision on his future. In the end, the midfielder didn’t even get a minute on the pitch before leaving again.
Torreira’s agent Pablo Bentancur recently suggested Valencia were a potential destination for his client.
“We have reached an agreement with Valencia, Gattuso wants him,” Bentancur said. “We are gonna discuss with Arsenal – Arteta wants to see him in the pre-season.
“He had great numbers with Arsenal but we have a pre-agreement with Valencia.”
If Torreira is in Italy, however, then perhaps that relates to the other reports of interest from AS Roma and Juventus. We should know more in the coming days.