Emery would ‘love’ £40m ace at Aston Villa and held talks over £53m star too

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Unai Emery would ‘love’ to reunite with his former La Liga defender Pau Torres at Aston Villa with the Premier League outfit still in contention to sign Sporting Lisbon’s Manuel Ugarte too. 

Mateu Alemany’s sudden and unexpected U-turn – the Barcelona director is now staying at Camp Nou after holding advanced talks over a move to Villa Park – is an unwelcome distraction, yes, but not necessarily a disaster.

Aston Villa – Alemany or no Alemany – still have their fair share of connections in the market. Connections Unai Emery could put to very good use over the coming months.

£40 million-rated Spain international Pau Torres, one of the club’s leading summer targets, is a player who boasts an excellent relationship with the man currently in the Villa hotseat.  

“Pau Torres is an amazing player,” the manager told Football London of a man who helped Emery’s Villarreal reach the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2022. “I think he’s top. I’ve been a coach at Sevilla, PSG, Arsenal and I’ve never seen a centre-back like Pau Torres. 

“I think he’s going to play at the highest level. He’s playing now in the national team, but he can play in the top teams in Europe very soon.”   

Aston Villa like Pau Torres and Manuel Ugarte

Emery, the Birmingham Mail say, would ‘love’ to reunite with Torres in England. A cultured, ball-playing, left-sided centre-half, Villa’s interest does raise potential doubts about the future of Diego Carlos, another defensive southpaw who has barely kicked the ball since arriving from Sevilla due to a long-term achilles injury. 

As for Ugarte, the Mail add that he remains ‘firmly on Villa’s radar’. That is despite the fact that Alemany was initially the driving force behind Aston Villa’s interest in the tough-tackling Uruguay midfielder. 

Alemany spoke to Emery about the prospect of Ugarte arriving from Sporting Lisbon. Alemany’s U-turn, meanwhile, should not bring an end to Villa’s hopes of landing the reported Tottenham Hotspur target.

Ugarte, who has averaged the most tackles in the Europa League this term and shone as Sporting knocked out Arsenal, is represented by the same agent who looks after Emery himself; Jorge Mendes. 

“It’s almost certain that he won’t stay. It’s sure he will leave,” Jorge Chijane, another of Ugarte’s representatives, tells O Jogo.

“Soon I’ll be in Lisbon. I trust Jorge Mendes, who is the best agent in the world.”

Ugarte has a £53 million release clause in his Sporting contract. The Portuguese giants may accept a lower offer, however, as they did when selling Joao Palhinha to Fulham in 2022.