Lucas Torreira slams Arsenal for losing his place in the national team

Arsenal Transfer Round-up Lacazette and Torreira swap

The Uruguayan midfielder is currently on loan at Serie A outfit Fiorentina.

Lucas Torreira has slammed Arsenal for losing his place in the Uruguayan national team squad for the World Cup qualifiers.

The former Sampdoria midfielder joined Fiorentina on loan in the summer transfer window and his signing can be made permanent for a fee worth £12.5m at the end of this season.

The Uruguayan midfielder joined the Gunners in 2018 after establishing himself as one of the best defensive midfielders in Serie A.

However, he failed to exceed the expectations in the Premier League and his downfall started once Mikel Arteta took charge at the Emirates Stadium.

Torreira fell down the pecking order of the Spanish manager and he has had to spend the last season on loan at Atletico Madrid.

Now, the 25-year-old says that his lack of game time at Arsenal hindered his chances of making it to the national team.

The Uruguayan said: “I want to play as much as possible and help Fiorentina this season. We must continue like this.

“Now, I will continue with a great desire to work, grow and make myself available to the manager to be ready.

At Arsenal, I had little continuity of late, which also cost me the call-up to the Uruguay national team in the last chunk of the World Cup qualifiers.

“With a cool head, maybe it was better this way because I had more time to work at Fiorentina and to fit into the manager’s plans”.

Torreira made his Serie A debut against Atalanta and he hopes to give his best to La Viola, who are off to a flyer this season – 3 wins and 1 defeat in 4 games so far.