Dailymail writes that Arsenal midfielder Lucas Torreira is close to agreeing to move to Atletico Madrid for a season loan with the possibility of making the contract permanent for £22 m.
Pablo Betancur – the player’s agent, held optimistic talks with Atletico earlier this week, and Arsenal Sports Director Edu is willing to help drive the deal forward.
Atletico is in the process of raising funds and needs to pass on to Mexican winger Hector Herrera to make space for his team, ahead of the finalizing terms for Torreira. They are also calling for a loan fee of £8m for winger Thomas Lemar, who has interest from Red Bull Leipzig.
Torino and Fiorentina in Italy had also shown interest in Torreira, 24 years old, who cost Arsenal £26 m from Sampdoria in 2018, but he is eager to get in contact with Diego Simeone and play in LaLiga.
Arsenal is also trying to unload other fringe players with Napoli’s interest in Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Marseille’s interest in Matteo Guendouzi, Lazio’s interest in Shkodran Mustafi, and Bayer Leverkusen’s offer of £9m to Sead Kolasinac.
