Pau Torres transfer hijack on the cards as Aston Villa hold-up detailed by Fabrizio Romano
We’re delighted to welcome former Aston Villa full-back Alan Hutton as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Villa Park…
Alan Hutton admits there’s a worry that Aston Villa’s deal for Pau Torres could be hijacked for another club with the Villarreal defender yet to sign.
Torres’ move to Villa Park has rumbled on for a while, leading to some concerns among the fanbase that something had gone wrong.
Fabrizio Romano moved to quell those concerns last week (5 July) when he reported that the 26-year-old’s move to Villa had only been held up by the fact he’d been on his honeymoon with his wife.
It is understood that he’s still scheduled to undergo a medical in the West Midlands but Hutton admits that until a deal is done, there’s always a risk of it going wrong and transfer targets heading elsewhere.
Speaking to Villa News, Hutton said: “I think until the pen hits the paper, you would always worry about a deal being hijacked.
“It doesn’t matter what situation you’re in or what club you’re at, if the player hasn’t signed yet there’s always that worry that something could go wrong or for another club to swoop in.
“What makes me put a question mark over it is if this was Real Madrid going in to sign him, would he wait for his holiday to finish to sign for them? No. He would fly direct there, sign it and then he’d go back on holiday.
“That’s why there’s always a question mark for me and until the dotted line is signed, it’s always going to be there.
“Torres is a fantastic footballer; there’ll be a number of clubs out there who’d be willing to pay for his signature. We don’t know.
“Maybe he’s being genuine and he’s saying, ‘I’ll do it, I just need my holiday and after it, I’ll come and sign’. That being said, his agent could’ve been saying, ‘I’m talking to x, y and z here’.
“He has to sign the paper and until then, we don’t know.”
On 29 June, The Sun reported that Villa are paying £30million for the Spain international, who won the Europa League at Villarreal when Unai Emery was in charge.
In other Aston Villa news, the Villans have been tipped to sign this international captain with a “strange” clause in his contract.