The lack of money in football just now means we are seeing a lot of loan transfers with mandatory purchase options, and that does make a lot of sense.
It gives the buying club a whole season to get their finances in order to complete the move, while it probably means the selling club will receive a bigger fee than they would for an instant sale.
It’s an option that has little benefit to any sides who need to sell players to finance any further transfer activity of their own, and it looks like it could be a problem for Lucas Torreira in leaving Arsenal.
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Recent reports from Spain suggested that Atletico Madrid were very interested, but Arsenal haven’t forgotten how firm they were when it came to negotiations over Thomas Partey, so a deal was looking unlikely.
That report also indicated that the midfielder wanted to return to Serie A and Torino had emerged as his preferred destination, but that move is now looking impossible after this:
Torino sport director Vagnati confirms that Arsenal are not accepting to loan out Torreira… at the moment: "Torreira is a top player but his price is too high. It's difficult to sign him from Arsenal, not just for us". Also Atléti want him on loan, #AFC ask for permanent deal.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 26, 2020
That sounds like bad news for Arsenal if they are relying on selling Torreira to finance the signing of any incoming midfielders, so clearly one side will need to dramatically shift their position to get a deal done here.