Torreira intent on continuing his upward curve

After a breakout season in which he earned widespread plaudits, Lucas Torreira is doing the business once again this term.

The Uruguayan midfielder is both the Serie A player with the second-most balls won (36) and the second-most fouled player (24 times) – confirmation that he’s a tricky customer indeed.

Success garners attention and not a week goes by without him being linked to one or another big club, but the 21-year-old is taking it all in his stride and insists he is focused on nothing but Sampdoria and developing his game.

“I pay no attention to all the transfer talk,” he said in an interview with Mediaset Premium. “All I’m interested in is becoming a better player and helping Samp to improve. I live in the present – the future can wait.”

Speaking of the present, Samp are currently making the most of international week to ensure they bounce straight back from defeat to Udinese when they host Atalanta on Sunday 15 October.

“I don’t know what happened in Udine. We went into the game in great shape after a fantastic win against AC Milan, but we made lots of mistakes and we paid dear for it. Now we have to make up for it when we play in front of our fans.”

The midfielder was also optimistic about Samp’s chances of improving on last season after a year to get to grips with Marco Giampaolo’s methods.

“We had a great season last year but I think the added advantage we have now is we know exactly what sort of football the boss wants us to play.

“The club signed some very good players in the summer to replace the ones who left and we’re all working together to make this Samp team great. We want to keep on growing and improving.”