Aston Villa are reportedly willing to pay the €65m release clause that would allow us to prise Pau Torres away from Villarreal this summer.
The 26-year-old has continued to establish himself as one of the top centre-halves in Europe, and has now made 173 appearances for Villarreal since joining them in June 2019.
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Villa boss Unai Emery knows him well following their stint working together at the La Liga side prior to his move to join us, and it appears as though he’s particularly keen on securing a reunion with the Spanish international.
According to Cope, Villa are prepared to pay the €65m release clause that Torres has in his current contract, as we’re reportedly ready to ‘go with everything’ to sign him.
This certainly isn’t the first time we’ve been paired with an interest in the Spaniard, as speculation has suggested for weeks that he’s one of our main targets this summer as Emery looks to strengthen his defensive options.
However, while it will take a hefty bid to sign a player of his quality, the fact that he only has one year remaining on his current contract would suggest that paying €65m for him would be neither likely nor sensible from a Villa perspective.
Villarreal will undoubtedly demand a significant fee still which is fair, and if Villa are desperate to land Torres this summer, then we may well go big to land his signature. That said, €65m seems highly excessive, and so time will tell if a compromise can be reached between the two clubs, and swiftly before other interested parties become more involved.
With Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa and Diego Carlos at his disposal already, questions may be asked as to why Emery would prioritise another centre-half at this stage, with more pressing areas in his squad to attend to.
However, he knows what Torres can bring and has been adamant in his desire to significantly improve the squad where possible, and such a signing would increase competition and help prepare for us for a gruelling season in which we could play over 50 games across all competitions.
The report above from Cope also adds that another Villa transfer target in Nico Williams is set to sign a contract renewal with Athletic Bilbao to end talk over his future, and so it’s hoped that Torres doesn’t follow a similar path in the coming weeks.