Villarreal and Spain centre-back Pau Torres has said he remains ‘totally calm’ about his future despite rumoured transfer interest from Manchester United and Real Madrid this summer, and isn’t prepared to even think about it until after Euro 2020.
The 24-year-old has emerged as one of Europe’s most promising defenders over the last two season and has now effectively replaced Sergio Ramos as the Span’s leading centre-back.
He helped Villarreal improve from 14th place to fifth in La Liga in 2019/20, his first year of senior top flight football, and was part of the side that won the Europa League in 2021.
That rapid rise hasn’t gone unnoticed and he has been a regular Spain starter since early 2020, as well as a top target in Manchester United’s well publicised search for a centre-back. Real, too, have been heavily linked with his signature in Spain since last summer.
But a relaxed Torres himself doesn’t exactly appear to be itching to move on just yet. He will be playing in the Champions League next season as it is and insists he is very satisfied with how things are at the club he first joined at the tender age of just five.
“I have a contract at Villarreal, I just won the first title for the club, we have qualified for the Champions League and it is something that excites me a lot,” he told Goal this week.
“Now I'm focused on the Euros. Then the [UEFA] Super Cup and nice things [at Villarreal] will come, so I'm totally calm,” Torres added.
“I live in my hometown, very quiet, doing beautiful things and fighting for great things with my hometown team. I'm totally calm, right now I only have eyes on Euro 2020.”
In additional to Torres, both Manchester United and Real Madrid have also had an eye on Sevilla starlet Jules Kounde, while the Premier League side in particular have considered the likes of Brighton’s Ben White, who now looks likely to join Arsenal, and Leicester’s Caglar Soyuncu.
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Source : 90min