LONDON, July 12 — Spanish international defender Pau Torres has been reunited with Aston Villa manager Unai Emery after joining the Premier League club from Villarreal on Wednesday.
Torres, 26, will join Villa for a reported fee of £35 million (RM212 million).
The centre-back was a key part of the Villarreal side that won the Europa League under Emery in 2021 and reached the Champions League semi-finals the following year.
Torres, who has been capped 23 times by Spain, was a product of the Villarreal youth academy and made 123 appearances for his boyhood club.
He becomes Villa’s second signing of the transfer window after the arrival of Belgian international midfielder Youri Tielemans from Leicester.
Villa are in Europe next season for the first time since 2010 after Emery oversaw a remarkable transformation in his first season in charge.
A seventh-place finish in the Premier League was enough to secure a place in the Europa Conference League.
Villa sat just outside the relegation zone when Emery replaced the sacked Steve Gerrard in October. — AFP
