Arsenal’s acquisition of Lucas Torreira from Sampdoria looked like an astute bit of
business for anyone who watched Serie A last season.
And that was before one of the Italian top flight’s hottest prospects starred for Uruguay
at the World Cup; despite being not selected for a starting berth until later in the tournament,
the young midfielder excelled at the base of Oscar Tabarez’s diamond formation, especially
in the 2-1 win over Portugal.
Torreira was central last season to Sampdoria’s unexpectedly good performance in Serie A.
Sampdoria lined up as a 4-3-1-2, with an attacking midfielder in the hole behind two strikers,
and a midfield three behind, in which Torriera took the central berth.
His job was largely to screen the back four, negate the opposition’s attacking midfield,
and link play between the defence and players further up the pitch.
In transition, Torreira and the other midfielders had the job of holding the ball and recycling
it, as the full backs, who supply width in a narrow formation such as Sampdoria played,
would not usually push up until the midfield could release them.
This is because Sampdoria played a high defensive line last season, and the full backs did not
want to get caught out.
Torreira, as the deepest midfielder, was often either the link man to the advancing wide
defenders, or their cover as they pushed up.
Torreira was the fulcrum of this Sampdoria side: defensively, he made interceptions,
tackled, and provided cover to the back four.
In possession, Sampdoria would cycle the ball around the two centre backs and Torreira until
gaps opened, and he could then play short, sensible passes either to the flanking midfielders,
who split wider in possession, or forwards to the attacking midfielder.
Fulfilling a similar role for Uruguay, and in a similar position, showed that Torreira
could step up on the biggest stage of all as well.
He was instrumental in allowing Uruguay to press, which they did aggressively from the
front, with Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez, while the wide midfielders moved out and pressed
the wide spaces.
This left Torreira to guard much of the central area with the opposite sided midfielder, but
he showed he was very capable of reading the game, intercepting long balls, and shutting
down players that beat the initial press.
So what can Torreira bring to Arsenal?
Under Emery, Arsenal will almost certainly use the 4-3-3 that he has deployed regularly
at his previous clubs.
This should see Torreira slot in straight-forwardly at the base of the midfield, though he could
also play on one side of the midfield three.
Emery likes his midfield three to work a certain way.
The central midfielder, Thiago Motta at PSG last season, sits, while one of the two flanking
players pushes up, but not both.
Emery also encouraged his wide players to move into central areas, and this meant that
PSG could look like a 4-1-2-2-1 – this encourages rotation of the ball in the central areas,
especially when the wide players drop deeper as well as in.
Emery liked his wide players to drop off to create space to run at the opposition.
Torriera will be central to this, literally: he is adept at finding space to receive and
play passes out of the opposition’s cover shadow, and his passing range means that he
will be able to play long through balls towards the wide men dropping in.
He will also allow the flanking midfielders, probably Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka, the
freedom to move forwards with less defensive responsibility, and assist the build up from
deep by working with the centre backs.
All in all, Torreira should be a very good signing for Arsenal.
He will function well in Unai Emery’s preferred system, bring stability and strength to Arsenal’s
midfield, and allow the rest of the team to play with freedom.
And, at only 22 years old, Torreira could be a mainstay in the Arsenal midfield for
some time
to come.