Facundo Torres confirms that Orlando City informed him of contact with Arsenal over a potential transfer, but they haven’t held follow-up talks with him yet.

Before the World Cup, Arsenal were strongly linked with a potential move for Facundo Torres of Orlando City, but reports at the time suggested any deal was on hold while Torres was away with Uruguay.

The player himself has now confirmed as much, admitting he’d love to move to the Premier League or La Liga, but at the time of Arsenal’s initial contact, he wanted to focus on the World Cup.

“Orlando City confirmed to me that there was contact with Arsenal, but then I left for the World Cup and I didn’t want to hear about a potential transfer at that point,” Torres said.

“So the conversation stayed there but now that I am back with the team, we will see where the conversation goes.

“I would love to play in Europe. It’s a dream I’ve had since I was a kid.

“At the moment I am focused on Orlando City. But La Liga or Premier League would be my targets, and that’s where the rumors are coming from!”

The Gunners opted to focus on the pursuit of Mykhaylo Mudryk in the lead-up to January, but Chelsea hijacked that deal to leave Arsenal searching for an alternative.

Torres wouldn’t fit the same mould as a signing, given he’s currently playing his football in the MLS.

The 22-year-old would likely need an adaptation period to get up to speed in European football, and he’d surely cost a lot less than Mudryk.

But it’s possible Arsenal could look to bring in both a winger for the present and one for the future.

Reports in December suggested that was the plan, though that was before the Mudryk deal fell through. With two weeks left of the January window, Arsenal are running out of time to make a move.