CEO SUGGESTS £35M STAR COULD JOIN ASTON VILLA ‘AS SOON AS POSSIBLE’
Villarreal could sell Pau Torres to Aston Villa over the ‘next few days’ with the Spain international closing in on a £35 million move to the Premier League outfit.
It is nearly a fortnight now since Fabrizio Romano uttered those three immortal words; ‘Pau Torres to Aston Villa, here we go’.
But with things going a little quiet since then, did Romano jump the gun? Is Aston Villa Unai Emery really going to fight off competition from Bayern Munich and Juventus in order to reunite with a player he described as ‘amazing’ during their time together at Villarreal?
The sight of Pau Torres arriving at an airport on Tuesday morning ahead of his long-awaited trip to England, then, would have come as a relief to those Aston Villa supporters fearing that one of Europe’s most accomplished centre-halves was about to slip through their grasp.
Aston Villa close in on Pau Torres deal
Villa, The Guardian say, will pay £35 million for the one-time Tottenham Hotspur target.
And Fernando Roig Negueroles, Villarreal’s CEO, is keen to have some clarity on Torres’ future, with the 26-year-old’s departure likely to be confirmed later this week.
“We have time until August 31. But hopefully we can (finalise our squad) as soon as possible,” he tells Mundo Deportivo.
“There are things to complete. I suppose that things will go well and that we will soon be able to communicate what is going to happen. But we are going to wait for a while until everything is closed.
If we have to make a signing or sale, we will see it (happen) in the next few days. If there is a player who wants to leave, (any sale will be made with) the will of two parties; the club and the player himself.
“Those who have a contract, if they want to stay, will stay. And those who want to have another option will have it.”
An elegant, left-footed centre-half; Torres has been on holiday with his new bride in Africa. Hence the delay over his arrival at Villa Park.
And, for the first time since arriving from Bournemouth in January 2019, Tyrone Mings is set to face some very real competition for a starting spot
