Lucas Torreira must report back to duty with Arsenal after seeing his desired switch to Fiorentina fall through.
The Uruguay midfielder spent the entire 2021-22 season in Florence, scoring five goals in 35 appearances in all competitions.
Neither the player nor the Gunners are happy to see a move fall through when everything seemed in place to make it permanent.
Why did Torreira's transfer fall through?
It is unclear what exactly went wrong between the involved parties at this stage.
Torreira for one was keen to stay at Fiorentina, stating in May to FanPage: "My intention is to stay at Fiorentina, but the club will need to find an agreement with Arsenal. I am very well in Florence. I am very well in Italy."
The midfielder has now said farewell to the Viola faithful but signed off his social media message with a barb at those responsible for the move failing.
"Know that I did all that I could to keep being part of this club," he said. "But sadly there were people who, acting in bad faith in my opinion, made this not happen and that's why I have to go."
What did Fiorentina say?
Fiorentina owner Rocco Commisso had hinted three weeks ago that Torreira's agents could spike the deal.
"I am very disappointed with what happened in the 24 hours after qualifying for the Conference League. Unfortunately, as happened with Gattuso, some fans fell for it with the [fan] petition with Torreira," Commisso said.
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Getty"Agents released this news. The agents, as with Gattuso or Vlahovic, will not win with me. I will be tougher and I get angry. I don't want to talk about the market because I'm not here to talk about it.
"There are insiders who will think about this. I know I am disappointing you but I will not talk about the market. There may be the possibility of revisiting the situation with Torreira in the coming weeks, but I don't want to give any hint of optimism or pessimism."
Arsenal correspondent Charles Watts gives his view
There will be frustration at Arsenal over Fiorentina’s decision not to make Torreira's move permanent.
While there may not have been an obligation to buy clause inserted in the original loan deal, the expectation was that the Serie A side would sign the midfielder this summer, following his impressive performances last season.
Arsenal were hoping to receive a fee of around £13 million (€15m) for the Uruguay international and trying to find him another club will now just be another addition to technical director Edu’s ever increasing workload.
Torreira only has one year left on his contract at Arsenal and all parties will look to get him a move away during the next couple of months.
Italy remains the midfielder’s preference and Arsenal will be hoping that his one displays for Fiorentina last season will ensure that several other clubs from the Italian top flight will be keen to bring in the 26-year-old.