Facts about Arsenal's defensive stalwart Lucas Torreira
Lucas Torreira was born in Fray Bentos in Uruguay and started his football career as a youth playing for his boyhood club I.A 18 de Julio of Fray Bentos. He stands at 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) tall.
In 2013, he moved to Montevideo Wanderers' youth team in Uruguay. He later moved to Italy that same year to join the Pescara youth team set-up.
Pescara youth team
Following his impressive displays, he was called to the first team of Pescara, where he was called to the bench for the first time on October 25, 2014. He made his senior debut in Serie B on 16 May 2015 against Varese, playing the game from the start.
In this game, he played 58 minutes before he was replaced with Matteo Politano. He played five games including promotion playoffs in the season.
Sampdoria (loan to Pescara)
On July 1 2015, Sampdoria reached an agreement with Pescara for the transfer of Lucas Torreira for a fee reported to be around €1.5 million. However, he was sent back on loan to Pescara for the 2015-16 season to garner more experience.
That loan move to Pescara in July 2015 happened to be the turning point in his career. On 9 August 2015, Torreira scored his first professional goal against F.C. Südtirol in the 2015–16 Coppa Italia. He played 26 games and scored three league goals playing from a defensive midfield position that season. He also played three games and scored one goal in the promotion play-off.
At the expiration of his loan move to Pescara from parent club Sampdoria, he returned to the club on July 1, 2016. On August 21, 2016, Torreira made his debut for Sampdoria in a league game against Empoli and played for the entire 90 minutes.
As a result of his impressive displays, he established himself as a first team regular in the 2016-17 season. He scored important goals for the team including a fine strike against Serie A giants Juventus in a 3-2 win in November.