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Pau Torres transfer 'makes sense' for Aston Villa as Unai Emery wants four 'high-level' centre-backs - Sky Sports journalist
We’re delighted to welcome Sky Sports and The Athletic’s Dan Bardell as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
Dan Bardell believes the transfer pursuit of Villarreal’s Pau Torres makes sense for Aston Villa, with Unai Emery wanting four high-level centre-backs heading into next season.
90min reported on 6 June that the Villans have held talks with Torres about a potential summer transfer, with his £42million release clause likely to be up for negotiation considering he has a single year remaining on his contract.
Emery previously worked with the defender in Spain, winning a Europa League title together two years ago and labelling the 26-year-old an “amazing player”.
Aston Villa currently posses Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa and Diego Carlos as first-team options at centre-back, with Calum Chambers also waiting in the wings as a utility option across the back line.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, Bardell admitted that Emery would want one more option in central defence due to the added workload that the Europa Conference League will bring his team.
He said: “I think that Emery wants to operate with four high-level centre-backs next season and be able to rotate and change things up in different competitions.
“The starting lineup picked itself towards the end of last season, but it’s for those added European games that extra personnel might be needed.
“The Pau Torres signing makes sense because he has worked with Emery before, he’s coming into the end of his contract, so pricing wise he won’t be as steep as he would have been a year or two ago.
“It looks like Emery is ambitious and he wants to sign high-level players, so Pau Torres wouldn’t surprise me at all.”
The same report from 90min also linked Aston Villa with a move to Manchester City centre-back Aymeric Laporte.
The Spain international is searching for regular first-team football and would be available for around £40million.
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