A claim has emerged on Aston Villa and their potential pursuit of Villarreal central defender Pau Torres at the start of 2023...
What's the talk?
Journalist Dean Jones has claimed that Unai Emery will want to bring the defender in if he believes that the Spaniard is good enough for the Premier League.
He told GIVEMESPORT: “If he (Torres) is truly up to it, then Emery will know that and he’ll go and sign him. I think it’s as simple as that.
“There’s no-one else currently managing in the Premier League who will have as much confidence as Emery in him if that’s going to happen. It’ll be very interesting to see if it does.”
It has been reported that the club want to sign the central defender during the upcoming January transfer window, who is valued at around £40m by his club.
Big Tyrone Mings upgrade
Emery can land a big upgrade on former Villa skipper Tyrone Mings by securing a deal to sign Torres from Villarreal in the next window.
The England international has started 12 matches in the Premier League and averaged a SofaScore rating of 6.82 this season, whilst completing 83% of his attempted passes.
This comes after he averaged a score of 6.92 and completed 80% of his passes in 36 appearances in the top flight in the 2021/22 campaign.
Torres could be an improvement on the former Bournemouth man as he is a left-footed central defender who could slot in on the left side of Emery's defence in the second half of the season.
The gem, who was once hailed as an "extraordinary talent" by his former coach Javi Calleja, has averaged a SofaScore rating of 6.98 in 12 La Liga outings this term, completing 87% of his attempted passes.
He enjoyed a fantastic 2021/22 as he averaged a score of 7.09 and completed 86% of his passes, whilst scoring five goals and winning 72% of his ground duels - compared to Mings' 59% and 52% last season and this term respectively.
These statistics suggest that Torres has the quality to perform to a higher level than the Villa central defender on a consistent basis, whilst he also has the ability to be a better option in possession.
Over the last 365 days, the Villarreal centre-back has completed 3.47 progressive passes per 90 and Mings has produced 1.84. This means that the Spaniard averages almost twice as many forward-thinking passes, which could improve how Emery's side progress the ball up the pitch from the back.
Therefore, Torres could be a big upgrade on the Englishman both in terms of his defensive strength on the deck, his consistency in his performance, and his ability on the ball.