Bengaluru, August 30: Following an impressive World Cup and Serie A campaign, Uruguay midfielder Lucas Torreira left Sampdoria over the summer to complete a £27m move to Arsenal.
The 22-year-old was in huge demand and apparently some of the top European clubs like Napoli, Borussia Dortmund etc all enquired about the midfielder's availability.
But it was Arsenal who moved more swiftly to secure the signature of the in-demand Uruguayan, agreeing to a £26 million deal that was worth more than Torreira’s release clause.
But now in a surprising revelation, his agent Pablo Bentancur has now suggested that he wanted to push his client elsewhere before the Gunners deal.
Lucas Torreira could have ended up at Napoli instead of Arsenal. pic.twitter.com/yIKEwIOGH5
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) August 29, 2018
As per Bentancur, he wanted to shift his Uruguayan midfielder to a move to Napoli however with the managerial complexity at the Neapolitans, who briefly had two managers in Carlos Ancelotti and Maurizio Sarri at one point before the latter's exit, he wasn’t able to sit down with Ancelotti and co. to hold a transfer talk.
“It’s a pity, I’m sorry Ancelotti wasn’t there at the start of the negotiation,” Torreira's agent Pablo Bentancur said.
“He’d have been a great help for Torreira, he has tremendous international experience. But then Lucas called me and he confirmed to me that negotiations with Arsenal were too advanced for any second thoughts.
“If Arsenal had collapsed then Napoli would have been perfect. Arsenal satisfied all of our requests, even paying € 5million [£4.5million] more than the release clause."
Betancur however furthermore added that currently, his client is more than happy at Arsenal and despite the midfielder's failure to start a match under Unai Emery following three games he is adapting well to Premier League to fight for a spot.
"He's adapting well to the Premier League, he's settling well and he's happy."
The box to box midfielder who made 36 Serie A appearances for Sampdoria last season now could start against Cardiff on Sunday.