Lucas Torreira wasn’t involved for Arsenal on Saturday as they swatted Fulham aside in their opening Premier League match.
The official reason for the midfielder’s absence was a small injury, yet many believe it’s more related to an impending exit from the club. Turin newspaper Tuttosport is among those, and they state it all points to a transfer in the not too distant future.
As routinely happens, they’re happy to accept that in staged payments, not requiring Torino to deposit €24m in one go. However, Arsenal are completely against a loan move at this stage, so Torino will need to commit themselves to signing Torreira on a permanent transfer this summer.
The Serie A club would have likely preferred a loan, even if it came with a mandatory purchase clause next summer, and they may still try to persuade Arsenal on that basis. It would mean that apart from any loan fee, the London club wouldn’t start picking up any money until the end of next season.
