Aston Villa are reportedly advancing in talks to sign Villarreal defender Pau Torres, with discussions now in ‘key stages’ as we eye a top signing.
The 26-year-old has established himself as one of the top centre-halves in Europe with his form for Villarreal and Spain, and Unai Emery knows him well of course after their stint working together prior to his move to join us last year.
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According to Fabrizio Romano, a reunion may well be on the cards now as it’s suggested that talks are advancing to key stages between the two clubs to get a deal done, with Bayern Munich now seemingly out of the race as they close in on the signing of Kim Min-jae.
It’s added that although an agreement hasn’t been reached yet, it is certainly looking promising from a Villa perspective, as Emery closes in on a priority signing with the club pushing to now get it completed.
Speculation has been rife for weeks now regarding our interest in Torres, and strengthening our defensive options is a clear objective this summer as we look to improve the squad and prepare to try and become increasingly competitive across multiple fronts starting from next season.
Should we complete a swoop for the Spanish international, he would likely directly compete with Tyrone Mings for that role on the left side of the centre-half partnership, with Ezri Konsa and Diego Carlos also pushing for a prominent role.
With Villa looking to play in excess of 50 games next season across all competitions, it’s clear that we need more in that department. While some may argue that we should perhaps prioritise a depth option rather than an elite target who will expect to play, it’s about raising the level and significantly improving on what we already have to move us into the bracket of being a top club.
Torres ticks all the right boxes in that sense, and so it would be some coup to land his signature to follow up the addition of Youri Tielemans as our second summer signing.