The Lucas Torreira situation is an embarrassment for Fiorentina

It’s been a multi-week saga at this point, so I’m sure everyone reading this article is familiar with the Lucas Torreira situation. Just in case you are not, I’ll give a quick recap. The day after Fiorentina’s 2-0 win over Juventus, it was widely reported that Fiorentina would not be redeeming Lucas Torreira’s buy option of €15 million. Over the following weeks, reports filtered out that there was optimism Torreira would, indeed, re-sign with the Viola at a discounted price. We heard the common excuse from Rocco Commisso, that it wasn’t in fact Torreira, but his agent causing the disruption.

However, despite multiple public pleas to remain with the Viola, Torreira will be departing after an eventful one-year loan. He announced today on social media that “you guys know, that I tried to stay at the club to the best of my ability, but sadly there are those, acting to my understanding in bad faith, that made sure this didn’t occur and because of this I must leave.”

Whether Vincenzo Italiano wanted Torriera at the club or not does change the fact that this is a deeply embarrassing situation for Fiorentina. Rocco Commisso and Joe Barone clearly are not interested in investing the money necessary for this club to continue to improve. Offering just €7 million to Arsenal for Torreira is insulting. At which other clubs do you see star players calling the management out for acting in bad faith? Fiorentina has another two and a half months to prove the Torreira situation is an anomaly and to improve Vincenzo Italiano’s squad. €140 million from Dušan Vlahovic and Federico Chiesa in the last two years gives the Viola no excuse to not spend. But, Fiorentina is reportedly currently in a stalemate with Floran Grillitsch over salary and is low-balling Shakhtar for Dodô.

Coupled with the past treatment of legends such as Giancarlo Antognoni and Cesare Prandelli and stars like Franck Ribery, I have little faith in this current management’s ability to turn this situation around. Rather, Rocco Commisso and Joe Barone seem perfectly alright with letting this squad stagnate rather than give Vincenzo Italiano the improvements he deserves.

One last message: thank you Lucas. He was everything I could have asked for the club and more, a leader who wanted to stay in Florence and help this club grow to its potential. Hopefully, in the future, he can play for the club again, under ownership that prioritizes winning and bringing the club back to its rightful standing in Serie A.