Lucas Torreira: The type of signing Arsenal should have made a decade ago?

The Emirates has a new cult hero.

Patrick Vieira might be long gone but there appears to be a player in the Arsenal midfield who could finally be considered the long-term replacement.

It’s taken long enough, of course, but in Lucas Torreira they have a man who could be that missing link. A man who could be the catalyst to Arsenal challenging for the top honours once again.

Is that a bit too much to say about a player who has only just arrived and even less recently forced his way into the team?

Possibly but, as ever, we shall back it up with some facts, data and statistics.

Torreira has played a part in 16 matches for Arsenal so far in his debut season and, although having a starting position which is meant to be the deepest midfielder, he likes to move around the pitch as his heat map shows.

I’m going to compare him to the player people consider the best defensive midfielder in recent Premier League history; Chelsea‘s N’Golo Kante.

We shall look at some key statistics from Torreira this season, albeit a small sample size, and Kante’s title-winning season with Leicester City which was also Kante’s debut full season in the Premier League.

Above, and you can click on the image to make it larger, you can see Torreira’s key stats in an Arsenal shirt.

And above you can see Kante at Leicester City.

Please note – we are not comparing two things that are exactly the same here. Kante at Leicester played in a different system and different role to the one being taken on by Torreira in Emery’s Arsenal team. But, some of these numbers are useful for comparison.

As you can see, recoveries in the opponents half is one area where Torreira is behind where Kante was at. Torreira has managed 10.51 and a 45.9% success rate per 90 minutes, whereas Kante managed 12.98 at a 46.8% success rate at Leicester. What does this mean? Well, it shows that Torreira has a hunger to win the ball back higher up the field, which is great for the Emery system. His success rate is not that different to Kante, either.

When you look at duels won, you might immediately think that Kante is far ahead of Torreira. This isn’t the case as it is the % that counts in this instance. Torreira is winning 44.5% of his duels which is much better than Kante who won 36% in comparison. Again, what is the context? One of the reasons that Torreira might not be winning as many per 90 could well be down to how many there are to be won. The difference in playing style could be a factor here; Kante was notorious for being like two players in midfield and would get through many more duels in a match. Whether he won all of them or not is actually a different matter.

Passing accuracy is always interesting as it is always open to interpretation. Torreira is currently averaging a 90.8% completion rate which is very strong. Kante, at Leicester, maintained an 85.2% average which could be down to the style of play adopted in Leicester’s title-winning season. The key here is, Torreira keeps the ball. If you look at the success rate of longer passes too, it would be fair to suggest he has a better passing game than his French counterpart.

Conclusion

It is too soon to say whether Torreira is going to have a bigger impact on the Premier League than the likes of N’Golo Kante or Patrick Vieira.

However, the early signs are very promising indeed. He appears to have a complete game for the role he is being asked to play and with Arsenal needing a player like him for so long, the opportunity is there for him to make himself at home and achieve cult status like those before him.

And, of course, to achieve that he will need to lead Arsenal to silverware.

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