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The pleasures of watching a World Cup are many, and watching a new signature game for a country you would otherwise have ignored is such a pleasure. Arsenal fans will remember Tomas Rosicky's victory against the Czech Republic against the United States in 2006 and this summer they have set their sights on Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Torreira, winner of the Sampdoria for 25 million euros.
Accused of laziness on the market during the past summers, the new Arsenal recruiting team seems to work with determination and efficiency in this window. The jurisdiction of these decisions will ultimately be judged on the ground next season, but the fact that decisions are made to suit a (presumed) plan is a reason for cautious encouragement. After the somewhat prosaic signatures of Stephan Lichtsteiner and Sokratis Papastathopoulos, the arrival of Torreira is the most exciting purchase to date.
The career up to here …
The Uruguayan international of 22 years arrived in Italy as a teenager in 2014 and made his way into the ranks of Pescara. This is the same anchorage enjoyed by everyone's favorite playmaker with a touch of Marco Verratti's needle, to whom Torreira is often compared. Curiously, Torreira played as an attacker in his formative years before being relocated in the midfield – congratulations to whoever made that decision.
In Pescara, he was coached by the brother of Sampdoria manager Marco Giampaolo, whom we can cure by giving Torreira a striking reference when he joined the Genovese club in 2016.
He has prospered since. in the last two seasons largely from the diamond base Sampdoria midfield. International recognition has arrived and he was named in the Oscar Tabarez team in Uruguay for the 2018 World Cup.
What kind of World Cup did he have?
Torreira played the final minutes of Uruguay's 1-0 win over Egypt from the bench, too little time to make a serious impression. He also started as a substitute in their second group match against Saudi Arabia, but this time played more than 30 minutes in a deep central midfield position.
A change of Tabarez system allowed Torriera to start the last group match of Uruguay against Russia, and he retained his place against Portugal in the round of 16.
Torreira's disciplined performance at the base of the midfield demonstrated defensive awareness with four blocked shots, four clears and two interceptions. He has rarely moved away from his two central defenders, with Uruguay having channeled Portugal's advances on the flanks in a 2-1 win.
Arsenal fans were also impressed by his commitment to the cause, and a clip of Torreira throwing his head in front of a loose ball was shared with approval on social media. Cristiano Ronaldo also bounced on a Torriera houseboat.
Torreira played 90 minutes in the quarterfinals of Uruguay in the quarterfinals, in which they struggled to cope with the absence of Edinson Cavani.
What kind of player is he?
Torreira has been described as a deep playmaker and a defensive midfielder and it is worthwhile delineating part of this positional bigotry. At five feet six, one thing that's definitely not, it's the "mighty," imposing physically imposing that many Arsenal fans have desired since the departure of Patrick Vieira. . This is not necessarily a cause for alarm. N & # 39; Golo Kante and Fernandinho are not giants, but have excelled in midfielders. In the modern game where the & # 39; transitions & # 39; are so important – a few seconds after the loss of possession and a few seconds after the return – agility, anticipation and speed are more and more prized by the brute force.
Only Lucas Leiva wins more tackle Torreira among midfielders in Serie A last season, while only four midfielders have completed more pbades. So while Torreira was tied to the Sampdoria midfielder's base, he contributed both defensively and to their construction game with the ball – the destructive and constructive aspects of football if you will.
In this excellent badysis of Mousa Dembele of Tottenham last season, my colleague Alistair Tweedale wrote how the Belgian redefined the notion of "box-to-box midfielder". Affected Dembele plays offensively and defensively without actually running across the thirds of the field, but by patrolling the central areas. He was everywhere and yet often stationery.
Torreira has something similar, but at the age of 22, he has a lot of energy and starts his game. He makes up for his small size by anticipating very well the loose bullets, maybe a legacy of his time as an attacker waiting for things to go down, while having the speed to make sure he'll get there first. With a low center of gravity, Torreira is also able to protect the ball under pressure which is a real badet against intense pressing.
So, the potential new signature of Arsenal is neither one thing nor the other. He is neither a "destroyer" nor a pure playmaker in the mold of Andrea Pirlo or Jorginho of Napoli. In short, it could be a link between the two departments
Where will it fit?
One can only speculate on how Unai Emery will arrange his new charges, but there is no doubt that Torriera would be a midfield addition. A feature, and a problem, with the Arsenal core in recent years has been the idiosyncratic combinations of "specialists". Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin, or Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey.
Isolated, these partnerships were rather effective, but they relied heavily on individual attributes. Cazorla needed the athleticism and defensive performance of Coquelin, Coquelin needed the technical quality of Cazorla to cover his own loopholes, Xhaka needed Ramsey's legs and Ramsey needed Xhaka's cast. None of these players could work with another partner against serious opposition. Remove a card, and the house tumbles
From the point of view of the team's strength, Torreira will be a real badet because he can play with several partners in the 4-2-3-1, which would be Emery's preference. He has enough defensive abilities in play and in ball to combine perfectly with Xhaka as the main point guard, but he's good enough to play with Ramsey and counterbalance the Welsh's off-the-ball style. the three of them could combine in a 4-3-3, but that raises the thorny issue of shunter Mesut Ozil wide. Unless of course, Emery plays them all in a diamond behind Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang. Promising on paper, but not a system that the Spanish has used in the past. With Emery to manage a match in the UAE, we are a little in the dark.
Who will be missed?
Aaron Ramsey still has to sign a new contract, and reports indicate that it will be sold this summer if he refuses. This should see Torreira installed as Xhaka's partner with Ozil in front of them in position # 10. If Ramsey stays (good news, to be clear) then the situation is more complex.
There is widespread antipathy to Xhaka despite his improvement post-January when he showed more defensive rigor. Many will ask that it be cast on the scrapheap, but Emery enjoyed working with similar types in the form of Steven Nzoni and Grzegorz Krychowiak in Seville. If Xhaka's form continues, it might be difficult to dislodge, and many think that there is a serious player in a more structured structure.
We must still mention Henrikh Mkhitrayan, Alex Iwobi or Ainsley Maitland-Niles either – or even the potential of a new winger. Each player has a clean slate under Emery, and there could be a hell of a fight to get into the team.
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