Arsenal are furious with Atlético Madrid over Lucas Torreira’s lack of playing time at the club and believe the Spanish may be deliberately trying to devalue the player.
That’s what Libertad Digital report today, claiming that Arsenal are convinced Atlético Madrid are trying to get revenge for the Gunners signing Thomas Partey.
Partey joined Arsenal in the summer transfer window, with them activating his €50m release clause towards the end of the window after trying to sign him for a lower price throughout the summer.
That left the Spanish side with little time to source a replacement, although they eventually did with a late move for Torreira on loan.
Libertad Digital explain he was supposed to slot straight into Diego Simeone’s side, with the Argentine boss having ‘showed him a lot of confidence’.
However, the reality of the situation has been very different, with Torreira managing 11 appearances thus far but just 322 minutes of action despite those in charge of the Rojiblancos being ‘delighted’ with him.
This has caused ‘tremendous’ anger back at the Emirates, with Arsenal considering the possibility of ‘taking measures’ against the Spanish club.
They believe Atlético are ‘directly devaluing the player on purpose’ because they refused to insert a purchase option in the loan deal.
There is also a growing sense that Atlético are looking to punish Arsenal for signing Thomas Partey by activating his release clause and not informing the Spanish side first.
Atlético deny all of this, of course, and have argued that Torreira’s lack of playing time is simply down to the team’s good form preventing Simeone from changing things around.
At the moment the player’s environment have refused to comment on whether the loan can be ‘broken’ this month, something it seems Arsenal are seriously considering.
