Martin Keown has labelled Arsenal's plan to sell Lucas Torreira a "massive mystery".
The Uruguay international was signed during the Unai Emery era at Arsenal and was largely a shining light in his Gunners side.
But Torreira found regular football harder to come by towards the end of Emery's tenure, and now under Mikel Arteta the midfielder is largely a forgotten man.
Arsenal have been linked with attacking midfielders in recent weeks, with Thomas Partey and Houssem Aouar among the players high on the club's wishlist.
And Keown wonders whether Torreira - who has been linked with Partey's current club Atletico Madrid - is merely being offered up as a sweetener to get that deal done.
Keown told talkSPORT: "It's hard to put your finger on it because when I saw him first break into the team, that tenacity and work rate and quality, technique on the ball, I thought he was going to be the answer.
"I don't know if there are any underlying problems with the player, but he certainly looked to me to be the answer. It looks like he might just be a paperweight really with Partey in coming in the other direction.
"But I do feel he is a good player, but for some reason Arteta, not just Arteta to be honest, Emery was the same, did not really turn to him.
"A massive mystery. I thought it would be a loss to the team, but you can't argue with Arteta because he is getting results."
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