Manchester City have four centre-backs competing for two starting places – John Stones, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Ake – so Pep Guardiola doesn’t need another defender this summer. Despite this, Sport say the Premier League leaders are interested in Villarreal’s Pau Torres amid uncertainty over his future at the Estadio de la Cerámica.
Torres has made 133 appearances in all competitions for Villarreal, scoring 11 goals with five assists. He rose through the youth ranks to the Yellow Submarine’s first team and has been a regular for the last three seasons. Sport say the 25-year-old is regarded as an ‘elegant’ defender who is an excellent ball-player and tactically astute, but City still won’t be signing him.
Even if Guardiola may consider Torres an improvement on Ake, he isn’t going to replace the 27-year-old this summer. The area City needed to strengthen the most was up front and they’ve solved the problem with Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez.
Unless an existing defender requests a move away from Manchester, Guardiola isn’t likely to bring another one in. Torres looks a good centre-back, but it’s hard to see him going to the Etihad ahead of next season.
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