Arsenal ace Lucas Torreira branded ‘second best midfielder in Europe’ behind only Sergio Busquets
Marcello Donatelli, one of the first coaches to nurture Torreira's talents after his move from Uruguay, has backed him to have a major impact at the Emirates
Sponsored by
LUCAS TORREIRA has been backed to become Arsenal's equivalent of Sergio Busquets by one of his first coaches in Europe.
Uruguay international Torreira, 22, joined the Gunners from Sampdoria for £27million after his impressive World Cup.
And one of the first coaches to get a close look at Torreira's qualities after his initial move to Europe was Pescara assistant Marcello Donatelli.
The midfielder was picked up by the Italian club while on a trial with a group of youngsters from Uruguayan club Wanderers.
He was not on the initial list of players picked to go but took his chance.
Donatelli told : "His technique, his determination and his tactical intelligence always impressed me.
MOST READ IN FOOTBALL
"He has always been strong in understanding those defensive tactical aspects and he is very mature tactically in terms of how he reads the game.
"He can cope with the gaps that emerge in midfield with great intelligence and he covers very well.
"He is the one who corrects the spaces and cuts out the passes between the lines in the defensive phase.
"After Sergio Busquets, he is tactically the strongest midfielder in Europe."
Torreira's scrapping qualities saw him converted from a forward as he helped Pescara to promotion from Serie B.
He earned a move to Sampdoria and only two players made more tackles last season.
Torreira's importance was underlined by the fact he was one of Serie A's top ten passers and was ranked sixth for interceptions.
He did not start Uruguay's two opening matches against Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
But the eight-cap star came into the side for the final group game against Russia and kept his place for the knockout matches against Portugal and France.
Sign up for Dream Team 2018/19 now
- Dream Team is back and better than ever ahead of the new Premier League season
- Completely free to play
- £400k jackpot up for grabs across the season