By Betsefy
Arsenal reportedly attempted to sign Barcelona attacker Ferran Torres in the closing stages of the summer transfer window, placing a €30m (£25.9m) offer on the table for the Spaniard.
The 22-year-old moved to Camp Nou from Manchester City in January, and he was an important player for the Catalan outfit in the second half of last season, scoring seven goals and registering six assists in 26 outings.
Torres has found it more difficult during the 2022-23 campaign, though, only playing 99 minutes across the team’s four La Liga matches, due to the increased competition in the final third of the field.
Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha both arrived over the summer to boost the attack, while Ansu Fati is building his way back to full fitness following his injury problems.
As a result, Torres, who played the final 27 minutes of Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Sevilla at Estadio Ramon, could find it difficult to secure regular starts this season.
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According to El Nacional, in the latter stages of the summer transfer window, Arsenal approached Barcelona with a €30m (£25.9m) bid for the former Valencia youngster.
The report claims that the La Liga club ‘did not dislike the offer’, but head coach Xavi made it clear that he was not prepared to lose the Spain international in the recent window.
Arsenal allegedly did not return with a second offer for Torres, having been given no indication that Barcelona would be prepared to let him leave.
The versatile forward started his professional career with Valencia, making 97 appearances for Los Che, contributing nine goals and 12 assists in the process, before joining Man City in 2020.
Torres played 43 times for the English champions, scoring 16 times and providing four assists, before arriving at Barcelona in January on a deal until June 2027.
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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said on Friday that his side wanted to further improve their squad in the latter stages of the summer transfer window but ultimately ran out of time.
“We had a lot of things still to do in the squad. The club has done a phenomenal job of bringing in players that we wanted,” Arteta told reporters.
“Unfortunately, in the last 72 hours, Thomas [Partey] and Mohamed [Elneny] got injured, and we had to react in the market. We tried, and at the end of the day, we have to bring in the players we feel are right, but we didn’t manage to do it.”
The Gunners also made an attempt to sign Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa before the deadline but were unsuccessful, with the North London club said to have had at least two offers turned down for the Brazilian midfielder.
