View: Pau Torres could be the solution to Tottenham defensive woes as Villarreal ace linked with North London
Tottenham are set to face competition from Premier League rivals Aston Villa and Italian giants Juventus in their pursuit of Villarreal’s Pau Torres.
Spurs tried to sign the 26-year-old defender two seasons ago with a £44million bid and are now showing interest in his signature once again, as reported by Spanish broadcasters Cadena SER on 9 May.
Torres’ current deal expires in 2024 and the player is still deciding whether to renew his contract with Villarreal or make the switch abroad.
His current club wants to make his stay long-term, but Torres has a lot of tempting reported interest, such as a move to Aston Villa and a reunion with his old manager Unai Emery or a chance to play at one of Europe’s giants, Juventus.
As for Tottenham, Torres may be the answer to some of their defensive troubles after a season where they have conceded 57 league goals thus far, which is more than all but five other teams in the Premier League.
The Spanish international would offer a different style of play to Spurs’ current options at centre-back.
Torres is much more equipped to play out from the back as he makes more progressive passes (5.70 per 90) than Eric Dier (2.92 per 90) and Cristian Romero (3.89 per 90), according to the Opta-powered stats on FBREF.
The defender also sits comfortably in the top two per cent of defenders in Europe’s big five leagues when it comes to progressive carries (2.17 per 90) and the top three per cent in terms of successful take-ons (0.67 per 90).
While these attributes look positive on paper, it is important to first know who Tottenham’s next manager will be in order to decide whether Torres would be the right fit for the club.
As reported by Sky Sports on Saturday (6 May), the club has held talks with Julian Nagelsmann, and if the German was to become Spurs’ boss, Torres could be the perfect defender to bring in.
During Nagelsmann’s time as Bayern Munich and Red Bull Leipzig manager, one of the 35-year-old’s most trusted centre-back options was Dayot Upamecano.
The French player featured for Nagelsmann at both clubs and the stats suggest he had a similar style of play to Torres during this time.
During the 2021-22 season, Upamecano was in the top two per cent of European centre-backs for progressive passes (7.45 per 90) and the top one per cent for passes attempted (92.69 per 90).
Similarly, during the 2020-21, season the defender made 6.03 progressive passes per 90 and attempted 85.60 passes per 90.
This reflects Nagelsmann’s coaching philosophy and his preferred style of playing out from the back which would suit Torres down to the ground if the player and coach were to join up at Tottenham next season.
However, there is no guarantee of this happening and if Tottenham do want to bring Torres to North London they will need to act fast as the centre-back will certainly be a man in demand this summer.
In other Tottenham news, it’s time for Harvey White to move on from Spurs.