Arsenal player reveals ‘intention’ to leave the club – keen for Serie A side to ‘find an agreement’
Lucas Torreira has revealed that it is his “intention” to leave Arsenal during this summer’s transfer window as he wants to remain at Fiorentina.
The midfielder signed for the Gunners after the 2018 World Cup. He joined them from Sampdoria for around £26m.
Torreira featured prominently for Arsenal initially but he fell down the pecking order following the appointment of Mikel Arteta.
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The Uraguay international spent the 2020/21 season with Atletico Madrid. He then made the move to Fiorentina on loan before the 2021/22 campaign.
The 26-year-old impressed as he played 35 times for the Serie A side across all competitions.
His Arsenal contract is set to expire in 2023. It was reported in February that Fiorentina are in ‘pole position’ to sign him for £12.5m.
He has insisted that he is “perfectly fine in Florence” ahead of the summer window:
“My intention is to stay at Fiorentina,” Torreira said (via Football Italia).
“But it will be necessary for the club to find an agreement with Arsenal. I’m perfectly fine in Florence. I am fine in Italy.”
Torreira went onto thank Fiorentina’s coach for making him “feel important”:
“It was a very positive year, even if we failed to qualify for Europa League. Perhaps, we deserved something more, but in the end, when you lose games, it means that you did not do everything you could.
“Sometimes, you must accept that opponents may be superior. Much credit goes to the coach, who made me feel important to the team.
“Personally, I felt very loved by the teammates and fans, and when you have confidence in your means and feel trust from people around you, everything goes for the best. All these conditions helped me make it to the top and reach my record for goals in a season.
“People are very kind in Italy, I love the quality of life.
“Whenever I can travel through different regions and cities I see the similarity of the city centres, with historical architectures. I feel like in the past, like nothing’s changed.”
