Arsenal’s new number 11 Lucas Torreira passed a medical at Arsenal’s London Colney training base on Tuesday.
Lucas Torreira becomes Emery’s fourth signing after Stephan Lichtsteiner, Bernd Leno and Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
He represented Uruguay in all five games at the World Cup. Torreira talked to Arsenal Media after completing his move to North-London.
Below is the full transcript of his interview with Arsenal’s official website:
Lucas, welcome to England. How excited are you to be an Arsenal player?
Thanks a lot! I feel very happy. I want to make the most of this opportunity life has given me. I am really looking forward to starting this new adventure.
The Arsenal fans are clearly excited too – they were tracking your flight to London online! What do you think of that?
Yes, for a while I’ve been receiving loads of messages in my social media accounts. I guess it’s all down to the fact there were talks of me moving to Arsenal even before the World Cup started. I am very happy and I hope I can meet all the fans very soon.
Did you know the fans were tracking your flight to London online?
No, I didn’t know about it, but I am here and I will see them all soon.
How does that make you feel?
I feel calm. I am used to coping with this kind of thing in the best possible way. It’s a very positive thing that people want to welcome me. It makes me feel comfortable. Now I am calm and I look forward to the future, which for sure will be very nice.
Our fans really enjoyed your performances at the World Cup – how proud are you to represent your country?
I feel very proud of it, it all turned out great for me. I wasn’t part of the team during the World Cup qualifiers, but eventually I made it to the World Cup. It was marvellous to experience World Cup moments with the Uruguay squad family. I tried to enjoy the World Cup as much as I could.
Arsenal fans especially enjoyed the footage of you at the World Cup challenging Cristiano Ronaldo…
That was one of the games I enjoyed the most. We made a terrific effort against Portugal and we ended up winning the game and qualifying for the quarter-finals.
And they also liked the footage of you heading the ball on the ground!
That was a moment in the game in which I had no other choice than to head the ball on the floor. I didn’t want the opponent getting into our box. I decided to go with my head. That video became viral!
