da spicy bet： Arsenal are a club drenched in history and tradition, with Arsene Wenger the man who built on their years of success in the past and brought it into the modern era.
da dobrowin： What he forged at Highbury, and later the Emirates, marked a dynasty that, if not for the coinciding tenure of Sir Alex Ferguson, would surely have gone down in history as the greatest of all time.
He cultivated a rich winning mentality and combined it with a free-flowing style that revolutionised English football, so his successor always felt doomed to fail with those expectations.
With Unai Emery the man chosen to take that mantle, his reign went unsurprisingly similar to David Moyes', who too was handed the impossible task of succeeding a legend at a huge club.
The two would last a combined 28 months before being sacked, with both going on to enjoy success elsewhere. Perhaps the expectations at such establishments marked an opportunity where nobody could have truly succeeded, with the Spaniard now seeking to prove doubters wrong on his second stint in England with Aston Villa.
Although his tactics and some of his decision-making were largely questioned, it could be argued that it was the transfer business that truly doomed Emery, with some of his acquisitions proving some of the club's worst in recent memory.
Who was Unai Emery's worst Arsenal signing?
Although the last few years of Wenger's time in north London were largely stagnant, with some sections of the fanbase even calling for his head, it always felt like the Frenchman received harsh treatment at the end of what was a sparkling tenure.
However, even his moves in the market had become questionable, with their focus only seemingly realigning since Mikel Arteta's appointment and subsequent combination with Edu.
The two have managed to not only usher in the talent they inherited but invested shrewdly whilst expunging some of their more expensive flops over the years.
Terminating the contracts of Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe, the latter of which marked easily the worst of Emery's roster given the £72m he invested, such tough decisions were a necessary evil in the eyes of many despite some backlash. However, with some others, there could be no argument.
This notion is certainly true when discussing Lucas Torreira's tenure in north London, which seemingly never got going despite his signing seeming the perfect profile needed to add some steel to their engine room.
He was a midfield warrior, and as a side often accused of being in possession of a soft underbelly, his aggressive play style was set to solve all their issues. Emery would even note: "In Lucas Torreira, we have signed a young player who is a very bright talent in the game."
However, it was to be an ill-fated affair, with the 27-year-old managing just 89 appearances across four years before Arteta came in and instantly got rid. The Uruguayan would look back on such a tough period in his career, which has seen him feature for Galatasaray most recently, noting: "A year ago I had been working with a psychologist in Spain because when in the second year at Arsenal I played very little.
Per Game
£379k
Per Goal
£8.45m
Per Assist
£5.6m
Per Yellow Card
£2.4m
"It was hard for me to really assimilate it because my life depends on football and when I don’t play I have a very bad time, I am in a very bad mood and many things happen."
However, he had done very little to command additional playtime, with the enforcer only managing 1.1 tackles and 1.2 interceptions per game during the 2019/20 Premier League season, despite being billed as an all-action defensive-minded star.
In the end, former Gunners favourite Paul Merson would issue a damning assessment of Torreira's time at the Emirates: "Everyone was raving about Lucas Torreira, but he’s not that good. I said this a few months ago and everyone kicked up a stink.
"He only looks good as he’s what Arsenal have needed for a long time, someone to run around and put their foot in. But, if you put him up for sale tomorrow then none of the top five clubs in the Premier League would be interested."
How much did Arsenal pay for Lucas Torreira?
Although his actual time playing was hardly groundbreaking, the 40-cap Uruguayan was not completely useless under Emery, and did have moments of enjoyment.
After all, he was a relatively important cog in their FA Cup win and their run to the Europa League final, where they were dismantled by Chelsea as Eden Hazard bid farewell to the west London outfit by putting on a masterclass. He did also score a famous goal against rivals Tottenham.
Given the fee paid, however, such an average four years was made even worse, as the £26m expended was no mean feat. He was expected to come in and perform instantly despite his youth and relative inexperience, and ultimately failed.
However, he was hardly handed a sparkling lineup to ease his integration, with the first XI of his debut consisting of Shkodran Mustafi, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Petr Cech.
How much did Lucas Torriera earn at Arsenal?
To make matters worse, as is often the case with an expensive buy, an equally lucrative contract came alongside it to add an extra drain on the club.
Fortunately, the two loan spells enjoyed with Atletico Madrid and Fiorentina somewhat offset what could have made a big outlay into an astronomical one.
Especially given the £75k-per-week salary that Torreira enjoyed, raking in a hefty sum that accumulated a further £7.8m to bring his total cost up to a lofty £33.8m.
Did Lucas Torreira deserve to earn £75k-per-week?
It is fair to say that the former Arsenal midfielder did not deserve to earn anywhere close to the mouth-watering salary he would gain, with the only saving grace being the £5.5m they managed to recoup with his sale to Galatasaray.
His exit during the 2022 summer marked just one of many that Arteta made in an effort to revamp his squad, also offloading the likes of Bernd Leno and Matteo Guendouzi.
Marking a miserable on-pitch return for a man who held so much promise upon first joining, the lack of defensive instinct plus his inability to control a game always made it unlikely that he would succeed under the former Manchester City assistant manager. He preferred a dominant, metronomic presence in the heart of midfield, which Torreira was never going to offer.