Unai Emery signed off on Aston Villa summer transfer masterstroke after what Pau Torres did v Luton Town
Unai Emery certainly signed off on yet another masterstroke at Aston Villa during the summer after what Pau Torres did against Luton Town.
Villa claimed their fifth win in six Premier League games with a comfortable victory over the Hatters at Villa Park on Sunday (29 October).
Goals from John McGinn, Moussa Diaby and a Tom Lockyer own-goal ensured the Villans record an impressive 22 points from 10 Premier League games so far as they continue their fine form under manager Emery.
Aston Villa have had to deal with plenty of injury heartache already this season after losing Emi Buendia and captain and defensive leader Tyrone Mings to long-term injury blows.
Several Premier League clubs have faced damaging repercussions from such blows this season, but not the Villans as they pulled off an absolute masterstroke in the market that is proving every bit a stroke of genius in Mings’ absence.
And that is certainly the addition of the experienced and classy former Villarreal defender Torres.
The 26-year-old came to Birmingham with a big reputation following a number of impressive displays in La Liga after attracting interest from some of Europe football’s biggest sides.
The defender has at times struggled to match the physicality posed by several Premier League strikers he has come up against so far but Emery’s continued trust in him is paying off.
Mings’ injury certainly hurt the whole club, especially the timing but Aston Villa are in very capable hands in the Spaniard and proved as much against Luton Town.
Torres was handed a 7.5 rating for his performance by SofaScore – the most of any defender on the pitch for either side registering three clearances, two interceptions and one block throughout the 90 minutes to help Villa to a victory against the Hatters.
He also won six of the nine duels he was involved in, including five out of seven in the air despite coming up against a strikeforce that often wins a lot of aerial duels and also recorded 109 touches across the afternoon as he looked comfortable on the ball, recording a pass success rate of 95% after finding a teammate with 92 of his 97 passes.
The centre-back lost the ball on just six occasions and he was also successful with the one dribble that he attempted.
Emery trusts in his ability and it’s why Aston Villa shelled out £45m to sign him and right now, Torres is proving every bit a transfer masterstroke, especially in light of Mings’ absence.
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