Arsenal’s Lucas Torreira and AS Roma’s Amadou Diawara have been linked with a swap deal between the two clubs. Torreira, who had played in Italy before with Serie A outfit Sampdoria and with Roma interested in the 24-year-old and Torreira looking for a move away, preferably to Italy, a deal could well be made.
But exactly who is Amadou Diawara? The 23-year-old is Guinean international who plays his trade as a midfielder and especially as a defensive midfielder. He is a player who is capable of bringing up the play effectively and can also launch counters with his range of passing.
Talking about Diawara’s goal contributions, he’s made just 2 of them, including one goal and one assist, in 1971 minutes. It would only be right if he’s compared with the man he’s probably going to replace at the Emirates. Lucas Torreira has a total of 3 goal contributions, including two goals and one assist, there’s not much separating the two players when it comes to goal contributions, as is expected from two defensive midfielders.
Defensive midfielders make their career out of interceptions and key tackles in the midfield, Amadou Diawara has made a combined 3.3 tackles and interceptions per game including 1.5 interceptions and 1.8 tackles. While Torreira has made a combined 2.1 tackles and interceptions, including 1 tackle and 1.1 interceptions per game.
Lucas Torreira has vastly struggled due to his lack of physicality and passing range, however, Diawara ticked all of these boxes with his 183cm long frame and an impressive passing range.
The Guinean is completely 88.9% of all passes he makes per game, Torreira isn’t far behind with 88.2% pass completion rate. However, the AS Roma man outdoes Torreira when it comes to successful long balls per match as Diawara averages 3.1 long balls per game while Torreira only averages 1.1 long balls per game. Diawara is also averaging 0.6 key passes per game.
While Diawara isn’t the world-class midfielder Arsenal have been looking for, however, he does seem like an adequate replacement for Lucas Torreira.
