'I wouldn't...' - £31.5m Aston Villa star makes big transfer revelation

Pau Torres has admitted that he wouldn’t have joined Aston Villa had it not been for manager Unai Emery.

The 27-year-old joined the Villains in 2023 for a reported fee of £31.5m. He reunited with Emery, of whom he worked with at Villarreal. 

Under Emery, Torres won the UEFA Europa League. He played alongside Raul Albion as the Spanish side defeated Manchester United on penalties with Torres the penultimate penalty taker.

“I have always said it, entering the Premier League with a coach who knew me, who I knew very well, I think it was very important,” said Torres to La Razon. 

“Surely if he had not been at Aston Villa I wouldn’t have taken that step.

“I met with him, he told me about the project, we were analysing it, and I also saw that at Villarreal I had achieved practically everything that could be achieved.

“That it was very difficult to do more things, and we saw that it was time to take that step.”

Torres has played a total of 153 games under Emery, the most by far of any coach. The nearest to Emery was Javier Calleja, who Torres played 46 times for.

Since his arrival in 2023, Torres has played 48 times in the Claret & Blue and helped them qualify for the UEFA Champions League. He played 29 times in the Premier League, and was involved in seven of their 12 UEFA Conference League matches. 

“I think he’s the coach with whom I have played the most games,” Torres added.

“He’s the coach who changed our mentality at Villarreal, who changed everyone’s mentality to think that we could win a title, something that hadn’t happened before.

“And I think he has been the coach, also on a day-to-day basis, who has demanded the most from us so that we all gave our best. 

“He already had a lot of experience in his previous stages in Europe and I think that influenced him a lot in the group.”