Arsenal set for midfield crisis
Mikel Arteta’s side are going to be sailing perilously close to midfield danger in the coming month.
Both Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny are due to jet off to the African Cup of Nations after the New Years Day clash with Manchester City, leaving just Albert Sambi Lokonga, Granit Xhaka and Ainsley Maitland Niles as senior options in the middle of the pitch, while youth starlet Charlie Patino could also be called upon.
Worse yet, Maitland-Niles could be set to depart in the transfer window, with Roma thought to be interested in a potential loan-to-buy deal.
AS Roma are still in talks with Arsenal for Maitland-Niles. Discussion ongoing about loan fee and buy option. Player’s open to accept but it’s not fully agreed between clubs yet 🔴 #AFC #ASRoma
Meanwhile, Roma fullback Riccardo Calafiori leaves the club to join Cagliari on loan.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 29, 2021
And they could be set to lose another midfielder come the summer.
Arsenal handed 13 million pound boost
One man who seemingly will be departing the club permanently is Lucas Torreira.
As per reports in Florence, repeated in The Sun, the Fiorentina man has impressed on loan in Italy, and La Viola are keen to make the loan move permanent.
In the process, they would pay Arsenal 13 million pounds, which represents a loss on the investment the club made to bring the Uruguayan to England in the first place, but certainly not a disastrous deal given all that has happened since.
Having appeared 17 times for Fiorentina, Torreira has clearly made the midfield position his own, and reports suggest that the club “will enforce” the option to buy that was inserted into his loan contract “barring surprises”.
In the meantime, this will come as a relief to Arteta and co., who would have been worried about trying to offload the player had he returned in the summer, and can instead focus on other transfer business, such as recruiting a striker.
Is letting go of Torreira the right move?
