Arsenal midfielder Lucas Torreira “close to Fiorentina loan”

Arsenal midfielder Lucas Torreira is reportedly moving closer to Fiorentina after being told he is not part of Mikel Arteta’s plans.

The move is considered a loan with an obligation to purchase at the end.

Torreira’s agent Pablo Bentancur has spoken of the midfielder’s desire to return to Italy where he played for Serie A, Sampdoria.

However, the Uruguayan had expressed his intention to fight for his place in the Arsenal squad but has now been frozen by Arteta, according to football.london.

Torreira has been informed that he is not in Mikel Arteta’s plans for this season

The 25-year-old has been training individually at Colney since returning to London last week and will travel to Italy tomorrow to complete the move.

Torreira joined the Gunners in 2018 for a fee of around £ 26million and immediately rose to popularity among the Emirates faithful with his man of the match performances against Tottenham and Liverpool.

However, the Uruguay international found playing time limited after Unai Emery left in the middle of the 2019-20 campaign.

Torreira completed a loan at Atletico Madrid last season following Arteta’s refusal to include him in the squad.

Torreira struggled to buy time after Arteta (right) replaced Unai Emery (left) in the Emirates

The midfielder made 26 appearances during his time at Wanda Metropolitano, winning La Liga with Diego Simeone.

Although impressive during his time with the La Liga champions, Torreira is not expected to make his move to the Spanish capital permanent as Atletico cannot afford to buy him due to financial hardship caused by the pandemic of Covid-19.

Torreira has revealed his struggles at Arsenal left scars and he had to seek help from a psychologist to recover mentally.

Torreira enlisted the help of a psychologist to mentally recover from being frozen at Arsenal

The midfielder (right) won La Liga under Diego Simeone (left) while on loan at Atletico

“A year ago I was working with a psychologist in Spain because in my second year at Arsenal I played very little,” Torreira told the Metro.

“It was hard for me to really take it in because my life depends on football and when I’m not playing I’m having a really bad time, I’m in a really bad mood and a lot of things happen.

“That’s why I started with him and he was giving me a hand on this.”

Arsenal have had a less than desirable start to the Premier League campaign, sliding on back-to-back defeats.

Arsenal lost their first two league games with losses to Brentford and Chelsea

A lackluster home display on Sunday saw them lose 2-0 to Chelsea as goals from Romelu Lukaku and Reece James secured the visitors victory.

Arteta was left without Alexandre Lacazette, Thomas Partey and defender Gabriel Magalhaes through injury and Ben White, Willian and Alex Runarsson after positive Covid tests.

Arsenal will lose Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny in January when the duo head to the Africa Cup of Nations.