✍️ OFFICIAL Lucas Torreira (Out)

[MutableEarth]

Who's this Amadou dude?

His he any good?

TL;DR, he was really good 3 years ago and might still be good potentially.

 

[Oxeki]

If we sign him and get Dani back...could they play together in midfield, maybe in a back 3 formation?

AM will lose their shít if Arteta plays a back five next season

The only reason most fans were able to stomach it was because they thought Arteta would play a back four next season

 

[Dutch D]

We were linked a couple of years ago, liked him then. Seems like he didn't really kick on since then. Would rather take the cash and look elsewhere. Didn't Torreira cost about £30m? That should go a long way towards Laimer or another mobile 6 if we insist on sticking with Xhaka in the starting line up.

 

[Ibadan]

Elite shampoo.

Idk why, but I always assumed you were black. Disappointed now

 

[MutableEarth]

If we sign him and get Dani back...could they play together in midfield, maybe in a back 3 formation?

I dunno tbh. A lot of people bang the drum for Ceballos as a sort of 8/10 but I much prefer him as a deeper-lying player myself. It would be inconsistent of me to advocate for Diawara-Ceballos when I have advocated against Xhaka-Ceballos even when they've played well together. There's more similarity with Diawara and Xhaka than with a lot of other players, so having any pivot combination of the 3 is a little redundant. Especially given the move is to go back to a 4231/433 at some point.

I think it works slightly better with a creative, athletic 10, but even with Diawara being a slightly quicker player than Xhaka, it's still not much of an athletic midfield unless you're planning to insert Willian or Partey in there and making it a 3 - but you potentially sacrifice a lot of creativity. I'm pretty ambivalent on Ceballos staying anyway. I've been really impressed with him since Project Restart and I'd be happy for him to stay here, but he's not our player and he's unlikely to be our player long-term unless he's abandoned his dream of being a Galactico.

Don't get me wrong - I know I've come across ultra positive about Diawara - but it's mostly because he was/is a prospect who still has a lot of potential as a DLP-type #6 and I at least wanted to present a more positive spin on the player, but as much as I'd be cool with us signing him, I would definitely argue that there are more suitable options out there.

 

[Kysus]

Even assuming we sign Partey and Ceballos If we lose xhaka to a long-term injury we are totally ****ed.
We desperately need quality depth in CM.
Xhaka is the only one with footballing IQ there.

As it is Mikel is the 2nd best CM we have, might as well use him as playercoach Vialli style

 

[HairSprayGooners]

Even assuming we sign Partey and Ceballos If we lose xhaka to a long-term injury we are totally ****ed.
We desperately need quality depth in CM.
Xhaka is the only one with footballing IQ there.

You're right we need someone else who can dictate play from deep

 

[LG10]

Diawara is a better Xhaka back up than Torreira, good business of true. Arteta will be the perfect coach for him.

 

[zilfy]

Yeah, he's an excellent passer, it's why I could see him replacing Torreira in the squad. He's bigger and a better passer while still being a good ball-winner

Thanks for the analysis on amadou. My depression is evaporating!

 

[RunTheTrap]

The way I see it Partey and Diawara > Torreria and Guendouzi. I'm not going to lie I don't know much about Diawara, I saw him a couple of times at Napoli and thought he was like John Obi Mikel, but if he's better than Xhaka or has the potential to bench and sell him for good, I'm taking him wide arms wide open. That being said, you have to think why Roma are so quick to offer us a player they've just signed last year. Unless we're the ones pushing for him it smells like a bad deal for us.

 

[yorch44]

He's moderate, I don't ever remember him being super quick, but he's got a higher top speed than Torreira for sure and probably just about enough acceleration to be able to use it effectively. His positioning is pretty good anyway.

https://www.esdfanalysis.com/player-analysis/amadou-diawara/

Here's a decent scouting report from when he was at Napoli under Sarri. This essentially describes him as Jorginho's replacement at the base of midfield. This clip of him was also included.


And here's a bigger compilation of his time at Bologna:


And Napoli:


If he can get back to these levels when he was a central figure in good performances against CL level opposition, I'm for it IMO.

Poor's Song Bilong

 

[yorch44]

I dunno tbh. A lot of people bang the drum for Ceballos as a sort of 8/10 but I much prefer him as a deeper-lying player myself. It would be inconsistent of me to advocate for Diawara-Ceballos when I have advocated against Xhaka-Ceballos even when they've played well together. There's more similarity with Diawara and Xhaka than with a lot of other players, so having any pivot combination of the 3 is a little redundant. Especially given the move is to go back to a 4231/433 at some point.

I think it works slightly better with a creative, athletic 10, but even with Diawara being a slightly quicker player than Xhaka, it's still not much of an athletic midfield unless you're planning to insert Willian or Partey in there and making it a 3 - but you potentially sacrifice a lot of creativity. I'm pretty ambivalent on Ceballos staying anyway. I've been really impressed with him since Project Restart and I'd be happy for him to stay here, but he's not our player and he's unlikely to be our player long-term unless he's abandoned his dream of being a Galactico.

Don't get me wrong - I know I've come across ultra positive about Diawara - but it's mostly because he was/is a prospect who still has a lot of potential as a DLP-type #6 and I at least wanted to present a more positive spin on the player, but as much as I'd be cool with us signing him, I would definitely argue that there are more suitable options out there.

I agree, that's why I say a 3 midfield of Ceballos, Partey and Buendía would be my wish midfield. Because Ceballos is good defending but very creative. That's a balanced midfield. A better one could be Thiago instead of Ceballos and you have a midfield to compete against any team.

 

[MikeVinna]

Isn’t there a player out there who’s a DLP/CDM hybrid if you will? A physical presence with a proper range of passing? Somehow no one comes to mind.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

This guy sounds rubbish.

Not for me, Clive.

You rate Torreira though

Remember when you called me a troll for thinking Torreira is rubbish and I said eventually everyone would agree with me? Even Arteta knew he was a bum.

 

[SingmeasongSong]

Oh ****, it's gettin even worse when I read the name Kluivert.

 

[truth_hurts]

Isn’t there a player out there who’s a DLP/CDM hybrid if you will? A physical presence with a proper range of passing? Somehow no one comes to mind.

William Carvalho, but he seems to be on his way to Leicester.

Diawara is decent, but not an inspiring signing. Would rather money for Torreria. He'd have suitors in Italy so no need to take a shot deal from Roma.

 

[say yes]

You rate Torreira though

Remember when you called me a troll for thinking Torreira is rubbish and I said eventually everyone would agree with me? Even Arteta knew he was a bum.

Yeah I think Torreira is a very good player, and will be a great signing for any club who uses him correctly.

Torreira needs to be played as a DM. His issue here has been that both Arteta and Emery prefer Xhaka in the deeper role, and neither wants to play two holding midfielders, so Torreira has invariably been used further forward where he is much less effective.

And you are a troll when it comes to players you don’t like. You massive exaggerate their deficiencies to make your point and counter what (you think) is the erroneous common opinion. Torreira is a classic example. He’s not a bum at all, and when he has been actually used as a deep DM he has looked fantastic. Doesn’t have much schematic use here so I’m happy for hin to be sold, but I fully expect him to be a success if he moves to to right club, which is more than I can say for a lot of the players in our squad.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Yeah I think Torreira is a very good player, and will be a great signing for any club who uses him correctly.

Torreira needs to be played as a DM. His issue here has been that both Arteta and Emery prefer Xhaka in the deeper role, and neither wants to play two holding midfielders, so Torreira has invariably been used further forward where he is much less effective.

And you are a troll when it comes to players you don’t like. You massive exaggerate their deficiencies to make your point and counter what (you think) is the erroneous common opinion. Torreira is a classic example. He’s not a bum at all, and when he has been actually used as a deep DM he has looked fantastic. Doesn’t have much schematic use here so I’m happy for hin to be sold, but I fully expect him to be a success if he moves to to right club, which is more than I can say for a lot of the players in our squad.

See I think the opposite, people on this site exaggerate the positives of a player they do like. Torreira has never been fantastic or an amazing DM, if he was he would never have been moved forward by Emery or dropped completely by Arteta.

He's literally our worst midfielder but you claimed he's the best multiple times, his performances were poor in the majority of games played here. People just put this idea in their minds that he was this amazing DM because they watched him in the World Cup.

I think post Arsène Wenger you're very generous to these players, remember when he was still here and you were a harsher critic. You had a whole profile pic about Giroud being a donkey ffs!

 

[The_Playmaker]

Yeah, he's an excellent passer, it's why I could see him replacing Torreira in the squad. He's bigger and a better passer while still being a good ball-winner. We would also be able to rest/potentially replace Xhaka aswell with a player who has similar strengths and makes less errors. I think for the kind of possession game Arteta wants to be able to play, Diawara ticks a lot of boxes so I'd be in support of this signing - provided he can get back to the levels he was projected to reach before. He had some really excellent performances in the Champions League against very good opposition - a really strong performance vs Man City comes to mind.

I don't think he's a back-up to Partey at all, they're different midfielders. Partey is not gonna be the guy who progresses the play from deep IMO - or at least I'd be surprised if that was what they used him for. Partey has definitely shown an adeptness for a more robust role in the midfield, while Diawara has always been a sitting DM. If that's the case then I'd be disappointed. I'm also quite wary that - while I've bigged him up today - Diawara has yet to return to that level of form he had for Napoli circa 2017. He hasn't been that great for Roma and honestly, since he was dropped for pretty much no reason for Napoli midway through 2018/19, he's struggled for consistency despite the fact that he was playing very well before that. That said, he's a young man still - 23 years old. I would not say no to having Diawara as part of an overhaul of our midfield profile.

Excellent point as always. I have been looking at this from the wrong angle. He is much more comparable to Xhaka. The only difference between them is Xhaka plays longer passes, but Diawara excels at everything else. He would be a very good partner for Partey.

 

[drippin]

Excellent point as always. I have been looking at this from the wrong angle. He is much more comparable to Xhaka. The only difference between them is Xhaka plays longer passes, but Diawara excels at everything else. He would be a very good partner for Partey.

So like it seemed to me, it would be potential Xhaka to replace/add Xhaka. I guess it could be okay if not expensive.

I really don't like the look of his recent injury record. We don't need injury-prone players, had enough of them in the past.