Pau Torres

Reapersoul20 said:
Yeah like that young Harry Maguire fella', he will sort us out.
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He is the least gritty player I know so I guess not.

Bubz27 said:
Tell me you haven't watched him without telling me you haven't watched him.
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I have probably watched too much La Liga for my liking and one thing is for sure he is neither athletic or physical but he is better than what we have. I just give up on this shit, the club is cursed when it comes to players. We could sign prime Maldini and Baresi and they would become the chuckle brothers v 2.0
 
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He's not that good. Makes a lot of risky decisions with the ball. Defensively he looks iffy too, kinda like De Ligt.

He's basically a Bailly.
 
I've always found it difficult to accurately assess him as he sits so incredibly deep for Villareal. He seems to spend most of his time camped the edge of their penalty area almost level with the 6-yard box. I've not seen him do anything wrong but i've not seen anything to suggest he's a 'great' player either.

He looks too slow to play a high line or in an aggressive press.
 
G-manc said:
I've always found it difficult to accurately assess him as he sits so incredibly deep for Villareal. He seems to spend most of his time camped the edge of their penalty area almost level with the 6-yard box. I've not seen him do anything wrong but i've not seen anything to suggest he's a 'great' player either.

He looks too slow to play a high line or in an aggressive press.
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He's pretty quick I think or at least I can guaratee you that he's not slow at all. I remember watched him in 19/20 season vs Real Madrid where he was able to beat Hazard in a long distance race to get the ball. I think in that 19/20 season he was labeled as La Liga quickest defender or something. He also capable to play in Spain national team system.
 
Bially maybe plus few quid, for him that could work for both. Let's see I'm not holding my breath.
 
Red the Bear said:
Is he taking the piss?
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Yeah I think he must be. Pau Torres is a key player in a team that won the europa league and are in a CL semi final. You don't manage all of that playing for little Villareal if you're shit at defending.
 
Andrew7582 said:
Yeah I think he must be. Pau Torres is a key player in a team that won the europa league and are in a CL semi final. You don't manage all of that playing for little Villareal if you're shit at defending.
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Yeah, we've seen him firsthand, he was decent at it.
 
Andrew7582 said:
Yeah I think he must be. Pau Torres is a key player in a team that won the europa league and are in a CL semi final. You don't manage all of that playing for little Villareal if you're shit at defending.
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Villarreal play a low block though, so he is protected well. The issue is in an expanding team you wont know how good his defending will be, as he will be exposed more often and will have to do more defending on his own. Maybe need to look at Spain for that.

He is an upgrade on Lindelöf, question is by how much.
 
izec said:
Villarreal play a low block though, so he is protected well. The issue is in an expanding team you wont know how good his defending will be, as he will be exposed more often and will have to do more defending on his own. Maybe need to look at Spain for that.

He is an upgrade on Lindelöf, question is by how much.
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He is plenty quick enough to play in a high line, it's not a Maguire situation. There is a question about 1 v 1 defending, sure, as he'll have to do more of it in a higher line.

''Anticipating Attackers movement'' and ''tackling'' though, deep block defenders still have to do that stuff. Especially the first one since their defence has been under relentless pressure at times with balls going into the box constantly and strikers trying to grab half a yard on the defenders to score. I don't know how they withstood all that pressure with a centre back that's poor at anticipating movement.
 
Play him , Timber and Maguire - it will be a decent Back 3. Has everything you need.

Pair him with anyone else and it will be a disaster. With the money Villarreal is going to quote, I will pass.
 
Ignore the tweet heading and click the article.

Manchester United’s new manager Erik ten Hag will sign at least one new central defender. Villarreal’s Pau Torres is currently considered one of the best left-footed central backs in Europe & Chelsea would face competition from Manchester United & potentially others for him

 
A few people mentioning him but it's a fairly easy link to make when he was already on our list for CBs last summer.

I think he's class and would have fewer concerns with him under ETH than I would have had last summer as a lot of the defensive upside will come from the switch to a possession heavy system as opposed to trying to improve on individuals within the current system.

But there are other ball-playing CBs out there as well. I'm not sure what price is being quoted for Torres but some of them are probably cheaper too.
 
If there are other ''left footed'' one then I don't mind to sign whoever that ''left footed'' one as long as he's good enough but right now I can only think Torres as the best left footed CB available in the market. I might miss some names though, may be romagnoli?? Having someone who can use his left foot comfortably will help a lot for team's build up play.
 
What the hell are city going to do with him when they already have Stones, Diaz and Laporte?

He looks a bit lightweight to me. If we do get him I'd hope he's not just another Lindelof.
 
Jericho said:
What the hell are city going to do with him when they already have Stones, Diaz and Laporte?

He looks a bit lightweight to me. If we do get him I'd hope he's not just another Lindelof.
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Very similar defending styles. Both are passive when out of possession. They are also both pretty weak in the air, but are good readers of the game and decent on the ball (the latter is Pau Torres' main attribute). I don't think they'd make a good pairing, but they could work alongside one of our other CB options.

I think there are better options out there.
 
The Lindelof comparison is a very United-centric one. The player he more regularly gets compared to is Laporte.

I would assume if City are interested in him then one of Laporte or Stones would be moving on? I remember Laporte being linked with a move away last summer but I thought that talk had died down since. He's only 27 so not like he needs replacing.
 
If City and Chelsea are in for him why would he come to us in our current state?
 
We won’t get him as we’re the worst football team in the world. We need to aim for Richard Dunne.
 
Jericho said:
What the hell are city going to do with him when they already have Stones, Diaz and Laporte?

He looks a bit lightweight to me. If we do get him I'd hope he's not just another Lindelof.
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Have you not seen him in Euros, Europa, CL? He’s been consistently brilliant and only getting better.
 
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Not the best defender but he's an absolute baller and that's why we're being linked to him and Timber. Ten Hag wants a technical CB who can help build from the back. The only defender we have who fits that criteria is Lindelof but he's too slow.
 
Think he’s an absolute class act. Varane and Torres would be a formidable partnership and allow us to build from the back so effectively. Think he’s tailor made for ETH. Gives me way less concern than the height challenged Timber. Plus he’s part of a back line that kept Bayern to one goal over two legs, against one of the top 2 or 3 strikers in the world. Would be a massive step up from Maguire. He just reads the game so well. Which means he doesn’t have to be a “row Z” type of defender. Varane, Torres and Shaw and we have 3/4 of a quality defence. If we can add a good RB, we may actually have a pretty good back line. That said, a team has defend as a unit, so it’ll come down to the collective as much as it is a quality CB. If we sign a top class DM to shield the defence, along with Torres, it would give this team a proper foundation for the first time in a very long time.
 
Blood Mage said:
Not the best defender but he's an absolute baller and that's why we're being linked to him and Timber. Ten Hag wants a technical CB who can help build from the back. The only defender we have who fits that criteria is Lindelof but he's too slow.
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Timber would be the better choice out of the two under ETH's system. Timber is rapid and flexible ie plays as a RB too.
 
Looked good when we played Villarreal but was awful in Spain's 3-3 draw with Croatia at the European Championships. Really struggled when Croatia stuck a big fella up top and started going direct. Little bit of a concern for a PL CB in my opinion.
 
Isn't he a little slow? Undoubtedly very good progressing the ball and offers a little more balance being left-footed, but for me the same type of issues you have with Maguire and Lindelof are there.

Maybe I've just not picked up on his speed or physicality as much, but I feel those are both potentially areas that could be exposed in the PL.
 
Of course having been linked with us again he will now inevitably have a nightmare against Liverpool and gift them a path to the CL final.
 
Main difference with him this season is his goalscoring. It probably does make him a target because we dont have CBs who contribute goals. Not a top CB but good enough and now with the goals on top he's certainly doing better than any of our CBs this season.
 
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