Arsenal midfielder Lucas Torreira has said that he is not giving up on fighting for his place in the club’s playing XI.
The Uruguayan international joined the Gunners from Sampdoria last summer on a transfer fee reported to be £26 million by BBC. He has since gone on to make 60 appearances for the club, scoring three goals and providing five assists.
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This season, the 23-year-old midfielder has made ten appearances for Arsenal but only five of them have been starts with only two coming in the Premier League.
Torreira has mainly come on as a sub with Unai Emery preferring Granit Xhaka and Matteo Guendouzi in central midfield.
Despite his lack of game time this season so far, the Uruguayan international has said that he will work hard and fight for his place in the team. As quoted by Metro, Torreira said: “I don’t know whether I’d say it’s frustrating. All players want to play, they obviously want to be in the starting XI – that’s completely normal. But that’s not something that depends on me.
“It’s down to the coach to make those decisions and really I have to respect that. Right now it’s about not giving up. You have to continue working hard and whether I’m playing in the starting XI or from the bench I want to give my all for the team. That’s the kind of player I am. I like to give 100 per cent for the shirt to help my team-mates and to give the fans something to cheer about.”
Torreira has done well for Arsenal whenever he’s on the pitch. He’s a pretty tenacious midfielder and someone who can easily shield the backline. Xhaka’s performances for the club haven’t been extremely good so far, thus Emery should consider fielding Torreira ahead of him.
The 23-year-old will now join Uruguay for their two friendlies against Peru in Montevideo and Lima.
