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Arsenal preparing to bid for Lucas Torreira

Premier League giants Arsenal are reportedly preparing a bid for Sampdoria midfielder Lucas Torreira.

Lucas


Bengaluru, May 31: Premier League giants Arsenal are reportedly preparing a bid for Sampdoria midfielder Lucas Torreira. The 22-year-old is in Uruguay's squad for Russia 2018 and is said to have attracted interest from big clubs in Europe such as Liverpool, Everton, Juventus and Napoli.

Italian media outlet CalcioMercato reported that the Gunners are keen and could pay his £22million (25m euro) release fee. Torreira is a defensive midfielder who left his homeland to sign for Serie B outfit Pescara five years ago, moving to Sampdoria at the start of the 2016-17 campaign.

Arsenal are trying to get their business done as early as possible as they are keen to avoid too much competition for him. The World Cup next month is also another reason for them not to delay the move.

Torreira is a player very much similar to Chelsea star Ngolo Kante in terms of energy, tackling and work ethics. And while two of their three defensive targets are not going to the World Cup, Torreira could be tied up for the next six weeks if Uruguay have a good run at the tournament.

The Gunners are poised to sign Borussia Dortmund centre-half Sokratis Papastathopoulos in a £16m deal in the next few days. New boss Unai Emery has agreed to the Greek international, 29, becoming the first part of a major defensive overhaul.

Head of recruitment Sven Mislintat knows Papastathopoulos, who turns 30 next week, from his time as Dortmund's chief scout and has used the link to lure the former AC Milan star to London. The Gunners are also in talks with Swiss skipper Stephan Lichtsteiner, 34, who is heading to Russia, as a free agent after reaching the end of his contract at Juventus.

Turkey centre-half Caglar Soyuncu, 22, is another target, although Freiburg's £35m valuation could be a stumbling block. Soyuncu said: "Arsenal are one of the most important clubs in Europe and I know they are interested. We'll have talks after the national team camp but nothing is finalised about my transfer."

From what it seems, Arsenal boss Unai Emery is eager to reshape the porous defence he inherited as soon as possible.

Story first published: Thursday, May 31, 2018, 12:19 [IST]
Other articles published on May 31, 2018