Mikel Arteta already has the perfect solution to the Thomas Partey problem coming Arsenal’s way

Next season hasn’t even begun but however Mikel Arteta already appears to have a problem going into it.

The Arsenal boss is about to be with out 4 first crew gamers after Thomas Partey, Mohamed Elneny, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe all helped their international locations qualify for the African Cup of Nations which is about to happen in January 2022.

The Gunners are nicely stocked in the ahead positions and can in all probability give you the chance to depend on the likes of Gabriel Martinelli, Willian and Bukayo Saka to get them by the absence of the latter pair.

In the center of the park although it’s a totally different story.

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The way forward for loanees Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Joe Willock are up in the air whereas Elneny might nicely depart this summer time with only one 12 months set to be remaining on his deal then as issues stand.

Matteo Guendouzi in the meantime won’t be welcomed again after his falling out with Arteta final season regardless of his latest claims that he’s nonetheless an Arsenal participant and Dani Ceballos is about to return to Real Madrid at the finish of his mortgage spell as issues stand.

Hypothetically this might depart Granit Xhaka as the solely match central midfielder in the squad and though that’s unlikely to occur the Gunners can be eager to look into potential options.

One choice they may discover is bringing Lucas Torreira again in to the squad.

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Things haven’t gone nicely for the Uruguayan in his mortgage spell at Atletico Madrid the place he has began simply three La Liga video games, however reintegrating him into the crew is sensible on quite a few ranges.

The first is in fact the apparent AFCON cease hole.

Although Mikel Arteta didn’t deem there to be sufficient house in his squad for Torreira at the begin of this season, it isn’t as if he by no means rated the 25-year-old.

It’s simply forgotten that when the Spaniard first took over as supervisor in 2019, he began the diminutive Uruguayan in all six of his first Premier League matches.

A sudden surge in kind from Dani Ceballos noticed him lose his spot earlier than an ankle fracture in a FA Cup match at Portsmouth noticed him dominated out for many of the the rest of the season.

Lucas Torreira struggled in a rare start for Arsenal. (Photo by Rui Vieira/Pool via Getty Images)

Lucas Torreira in motion for Arsenal. (Photo by Rui Vieira/Pool by way of Getty Images)

If it weren’t for that damage it is extremely probably that Torreira would have been part of Arteta’s facet after venture restart, however an incapacity to regain his match sharpness meant that he by no means actually made it again in to the first crew image.

This brings us properly on to the second argument for Torreira to be welcomed again which is the footballing one.

Elneny appeared out of the door at the starting of this season after his mortgage spell at Besiktas, however Arteta has proven that he’s prepared to reintegrate returning loanees into his squad if the circumstances are proper. By coming again from Atletico subsequent season Torreira would ostensibly be following the identical path.

On paper the pair share comparatively comparable skillsets, with the Uruguayan arguably being a slight improve on his Egyptian teammate.

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Neither come shut to the ball taking part in skills of Thomas Partey in the center of the park however each are tidy if unadventurous in possession.

This might be seen by evaluating the progressive distance of their passing. In his first season at Arsenal – chosen due to the bigger pattern of video games and his spectacular early kind – Torreira’s accomplished 87.5% of his passes which travelled a mean of 239.9 yards in direction of the purpose per match (as per fbRef).

Elneny on the different hand as a go completion of 92.7% per 90 this season, however has averaged a progressive distance of simply 214.4 yards.

When it comes to defensive output although that is the place the Uruguayan excels.

He managed to win 1.74 tackles per 90 in 2018/19 in contrast to Elneny’s 0.58 this marketing campaign and made 1.43 interceptions on common in a recreation vs the Egyptian’s 1.08.

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Lucas Torreira and Mohamed Elneny are comparable gamers for Arsenal

Torreira’s boundless vitality made him a helpful urgent device in addition to he made 5.43 pressures per 90 in his first season, 2.42 of which got here in the attacking third. As Arteta seeks to encourage his crew to win the ball excessive up the pitch with the introduction of laborious working attacking midfielders like Emile Smith Rowe and Martin Odegaard into the facet, this might show a really helpful tactic.

By way of comparability Elneny has made simply 3.42 pressures per 90 this season, of which simply 1.92 have are available in the opposition third.

This will not be meant in any way to denigrate the Egyptian’s vital contribution to the Arsenal facet this season, but it surely’s clear to see what a totally match Torreira can provide.

The final however under no circumstances the least vital issue to contemplate with the Uruguayan is the monetary side to his potential return.

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Arsenal didn’t insert an choice to purchase into his mortgage transfer to Atletico Madrid, which at the time appeared like a wise transfer because it did not power them to settle for a lesser worth for a participant whose worth was anticipated to go up after a season of normal La Liga soccer in a market that was hoped to not be too badly impacted by COVID-19.

As it has turned out although, coronavirus has lingered to influence the funds of roughly all golf equipment round the world, whereas Torreira’s worth has solely gone down due to his lack of recreation time.

With two years remaining on his deal the Gunners might look to promote this summer time, however it might now probably be for a significantly decrease payment than anticipated, and with central midfield choices set to be comparatively mild due to the aforementioned circumstances, they’d probably have to exit and purchase a substitute.

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Having introduced losses of £47.8 million for the monetary 12 months letting gamers go for lower than their most worth is one thing Arsenal can ill-afford to do.

Arteta has admitted Torreira’s scenario is one which he and Edu are keeping track of as the pair look to plan how they may kind their squad subsequent season.

“We have been speaking to Lucas, Edu has been very shut to the scenario,” he mentioned in direction of the finish of the January window.

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“He hasn’t been taking part in as many minutes as he would love, as we want, however to be truthful the crew is doing so nicely in Spain and it’s comprehensible they don’t change the crew a lot.

“We simply need to be proper behind Lucas, shield him, assist him make the proper selections for the future.”

Torreira will not be perfect by any stretch of the creativeness, however for what Arsenal want in the short-term subsequent season, he might be the ultimate solution.

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