La Liga expert Euan McTear believes that Pau Torres may struggle with a step up to Manchester City from Villarreal.

City have been linked with a potential swoop for the central defender this summer.

The Athletic has reported that Torres has been identified as a potential replacement for Aymeric Laporte in case the Spain international decides to leave the Etihad Stadium.

Torres has a buyout clause of €65m (£55.8m) in his contract, per the report, and that may well be within the reach of Pep Guardiola’s side.

McTear believes that Torres is a more reliable defender than John Stones, who has seen his spell at City somewhat characterised by mistakes in recent seasons.

However, he accepts that Stones had to make the step up from Everton to City, suddenly playing in higher-profile games throughout the season and he thinks that the Villarreal star may well struggle in a similar way.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, he said: “Yeah, I think so. He doesn't make as many mistakes as Stones but then that's the thing, before Stones went to City, he never really made mistakes either but it's that step up.

“Well, number one when you're playing for City you're going to have the ball more so there's more chance to make mistakes and maybe the pressure with Pau Torres, he’s been at maybe the sixth or seventh team in La Liga.

“He’s from the area, he's actually from the town and so he's one of the ones who needs a good project if he wants to leave because he absolutely loves the club. He's come through the academy but he's never really had that pressure of playing in a Clasico or playing in a Manchester Derby or any huge, huge game like that.

“Maybe the Europa League run was the first time he had that kind of run, so yeah, Stones makes quite a few mistakes but that only really started to happen when he was at City, we don't know if Torres will be the same.”