European giants FC Barcelona along with Chelsea have joined the race to sign Villarreal centre-back Pau Torres during the summer transfer window, according to The Athletic.
Pau Torres is currently one of the best centre-backs in the La Liga and during the ongoing season, the 24-year-old has already featured in 20 league matches for the Yellow Submarine.
The entry of Chelsea and Barcelona will only complicate the transfer even more since Real Madrid have already set their sights on making a move for Pau Torres as soon as the 2020-21 season comes to an end.
Madrid are looking at the centre-back as the long-term replacement to Sergio Ramos and up until now, Zidane’s side was running a one-horse race in signing him.
Now, it will no longer be easy for the Los Blancos but despite the new entrants, various reports claim that Real are still standing in the front of the queue.
Pau Torres has three more years left on his current deal with Villarreal and as per the rumours, the La Liga side want around €50 million to part ways with the defender.
And this price tag could be a stumbling block for Barcelona since the Catalans are out in the market looking for cheaper options so we doubt if they will be ready to pay the aforesaid amount or not.
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Chelsea though should not have any major issues in spending €50 million on a player like Pay Torres especially since they are yet to sort out their defensive pairing for the upcoming seasons.
Thiago Silva is in the twilight of his career at 36 while Kurt Zouma is nowhere close to a well-established centre-back so it’s no secret that Lampard will like to bring in a new world-class central defender for the new season.
It will be interesting to see how Real Madrid react to this new development but with Sergio Ramos likely on his way out, Zidane has no other option but to sign a new centre-back meaning there’s very little chance that Florentino Perez will back out from the transfer race of Pau Torres.
