Fiorentina president Rocco Commisso insists he has no regrets about walking away from a £13 million deal to sign Lucas Torreira from Premier League giants Arsenal, speaking to Tuttomercatoweb.
Arsenal seem to have a real problem when it comes to selling players. Or, more specifically, avoiding making substantial losses when moving on from those no longer part of their plans.
Mesut Ozil, Sokratis, Shkodran Mustafi, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Sead Kolasinac and Henrikh Mkhitaryan all left the Emirates Stadium on free transfers. Matteo Guendouzi and Bernd Leno were sold on the cheap, while Torreira joined Galatasaray for a mere fraction of the fee Arsenal were holding out for at the start of the summer.
After an impressive loan spell in Serie A, Fiorentina were quoted £13 million for the diminutive Uruguay international. A couple of weeks later, he was on his way to Turkey for around a third of that fee; Arsenal dramatically reducing their demands due to a lack of serious interest in a man who set them back nearly £30 million after the 2018 World Cup.
Arsenal sold Lucas Torreira for a dramatically reduced fee
“I retained (Sofyan) Amrabat and now everyone speaks well of him,” explains Commisso, having chosen the one-time Tottenham target over the now-Turkey based ball-winner.
“But if Torreira had stayed, perhaps Amrabat would not have the value of today. You have all been listening to Torreira’s agent and how much love he had in Florence.
“He went to Turkey for 5 million. Had I listened to you, I would have had to spend 15 million euros plus commissions. I don’t miss Torreira. Today, Amrabat has a higher value than he would have if he didn’t play.”
Torreira is just one of many of big-name additions to a new-look Galatasaray squad. Dries Mertens, Haris Seferovic, Sergio Oliveira and France international Leo Dubois are also plying their trade in Istanbul these days.
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