Lucas Torreira has made it clear that he is ready to leave Arsenal after seeing his Gunners shirt number handed to Gabriel Martinelli.
The midfielder impressed after signing for the Gunners in 2018, but fell out of favour after Mikel Arteta replaced Unai Emery. He spent last season on loan at Atletico Madrid before spending the campaign just gone with Serie A side Fiorentina.
La Viola are understood to have an option to buy the Uruguayan as part of the deal that took him to Italy on loan last summer. But so far, they have been unwilling to stump up the £12.5million it will take to activate that clause.
Despite that move stalling, Torreira remains keen to move to Florence permanently. And he has now made it clear to Gunners boss Mikel Arteta that he wants to leave the Emirates Stadium this summer.
“My intention is to stay at Fiorentina. But it will be necessary for the club to find an agreement with Arsenal. I’m perfectly fine in Florence. In am fine in Italy. It was a very positive year, even if we failed to qualify for Europa League," he told Fan Page.
"Perhaps, we deserved something more, but in the end, when you lose games, it means that you did not do everything you could. Sometimes, you must accept that opponents may be superior. Much credit goes to the coach, who made me feel important to the team.
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“Personally, I felt very loved by the teammates and fans, and when you have confidence in your means and feel trust from people around you, everything goes for the best. All these conditions helped me make it to the top and reach my record for goals in a season."
Torreira's insistence that he is ready to leave the Gunners comes less than two weeks after he saw his shirt number handed to Martinelli. The midfielder had kept the number 11 shirt even while away from Arsenal on loan.
But Martinelli has been handed the jersey from next season, with Torreira appearing to hint that he was unaware of the move. In a sarcastic reply on Instagram, the 26-year-old wrote: “What number will I wear next year? Good luck amigo @gabriel.martinelli I love you.”
Fiorentina fans have grown increasingly frustrated that their club have not activated the option to buy, displaying a banner that called for chief executive Jor Barone to leave. The clause is still valid until Tuesday, with Torreira's agent insisting no other move would be considered until then.
“The margins for Lucas to stay in Florence are very small even if it’s not over yet. The issue between him and the Viola is a contractual problem, it doesn’t take much to clarify with Fiorentina and my priority is to find an agreement with the Viola club," Pablo Bentancur said.
“For now, he’s not thinking about other teams because he was very happy in Florence and is loved by fans. The problem is only contractual, commissions have nothing to do with it.”
