La Liga side Valencia are ‘desperate’ to sign Arsenal midfielder Lucas Torreira and are trying to convince him to leave Atletico Madrid to do so.
Should that fail, then their attention could move to Aston Villa.
The Uruguayan midfielder is currently on loan with Diego Simeone’s side, having left Arsenal in the summer when it was made clear he wasn’t part of Mikel Arteta’s plans.
He’s barely featured under the Argentine this season, though, with Atlético’s good form meaning he’s been limited to a substitute’s role at best.
That’s led to speculation this month that he could return to Arsenal and head somewhere else, with Valencia and several clubs in Italy all thought to be keen.
El Mercantil Valenciano cover the situation today and report that Valencia are ‘desperate’ to get Torreira through the door and contacted the player on Sunday to make a new attempt at convincing him to leave Atlético.
Simeone’s side have already refused to let the midfielder go on several occasions, but Valencia believe that they can convince the player to pressure the club from within and change their stance.
Thus they are trying to convince to Torreira to do the legwork himself and convince Simeone to let him go. If not, there are other options and one of them is Aston Villa’s Marvelous Nakamba.
El Mercantil report that the midfielder is also a potential target alongside Ajax’s Edson Alvarez, although it is made clear that ‘it seems complicated’ in respect of both of those.
Why that is isn’t made clear, but it’s likely to do with the financial situation at the Spanish club, which is getting worse by the day and means there is little to no funds available for transfers.
That is why they are seemingly so focused on getting Torreira on loan, a deal for which they are willing to use every tactic in the book.
