Aston Villa are interested in a move to bring Pau Torres to Villa Park in the January transfer window.

What's the talk?

That's according to a report from Spain (via Birmingham Live), which claims that Steven Gerrard is hoping to secure a deal for the Villarreal centre-back in the upcoming winter market after falling in love with the 24-year-old's style of play.

The report continues to state that, despite the Spain international having been linked with the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid in recent days, should Aston Villa be willing to stump up the €50m (£42m) for the defender, a switch to Villa Park could well be a real possibility in January.

Lange must move

With Tyrone Mings being heavily linked with a move away from Villa in January, and with Axel Tuanzebe looking likely to return to Manchester United upon the completion of his season-long loan deal at the end of the current campaign, the heart of defence is perhaps an area of the pitch in which Gerrard will look to strengthen this winter.

And, considering just how impressive Torres has been for Villarreal in recent seasons, the 6 foot 4 centre-back would very much appear to be a fantastic signing for Johan Lange to get over the line in the January transfer window.

Indeed, over his 10 LaLiga appearances so far this season, the £45m-rated man has helped his side keep four clean sheets, scored one goal and created one big chance for his teammates, as well as making an average of 0.4 interceptions, 0.9 tackles, 65.2 passes and winning 4.1 duels per game.

These returns have seen the defender who Javi Calleja claimed has "no limits" in the game average a SofaScore match rating of 7.11, ranking him as Unai Emery's fourth-best performer in the top flight of Spanish football.

However, it is not only domestically that the 24-year-old has impressed, as, over his four appearances in the Champions League, the £54k-per-week centre-back has helped his side keep one clean sheet, in addition to making an average of 0.5 interceptions, one tackle, 47.3 passes and winning 3.5 duels per fixture.

These metrics have seen the Spaniard average a SofaScore match rating of 7.03, ranking him as El Submarino Amarillo's joint seventh-best player in Europe's most prestigious club competition.

As such, it is clear for all to see that the addition of Torres to an Aston Villa defence that has already shipped 20 goals over 12 league games this season would be a very smart move by Lange, and, considering his reported affection for the defender, one that would undoubtedly please the club's new 41-year-old manager.

In other news: Preece drops Villa transfer claim on £22.5m-rated "proper player", he'd be a huge coup