Spanish outlet La Razon claim that Unai Emery could raid his old club Villarreal in a bid to lure defender Pau Torres to Aston Villa ahead of the January window – just 18 months after he chose to reject a move to Tottenham Hotspur.
Torres, 25, will be at the World Cup with Spain this winter. The rock-solid centre-back has been excellent ever since breaking into Villarreal’s side, clocking up 149 senior appearances for his club. He was a mainstay under Emery.
Villa of course, might be after a centre-back. New signing Diego Carlos remains out for a while with a long-term ankle injury. Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa are some way off the form they showed when Villa were first promoted.
Torres, a 21-time Spain international has been regularly linked with a move to the Premier League. His £57million release clause has seem Villarreal deter most interest. But he did tell The Guardian he rejected Tottenham in 2021.
Emery could raid Villarreal to lure Torres to Villa, rejected Spurs in 2021
What a signing Torres would be for Villa. But you would have to argue, that Torres is probably above Villa in terms of where he is at in his career. He was a regular in Emery’s side that got to the Champions League semi-final last term.
Indeed, Torres has shown he is a player capable of playing for the top six in the Premier League. Villa are quite some away from that at the moment. However, with Emery in charge, Torres could be tempted to join the project at Villa.
Another issue would be that while Villa have deep pockets, would they splash out nearly £60million on a player? Unlikely. But Torres’ contract does end in 2024. It might be, Villarreal have to sell slightly cheaper at some point.
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