Manchester City have been heavily linked with RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol, but Pep Guardiola could potentially find better value going after Villarreal centre-back Pau Torres.
Manchester City transfer news – Pau Torres
According to The Athletic, Man City are very keen to sign Gvardiol from Germany, but RB Leipzig will not make it easy for them.
The German side demand a fee of €100m (£85m) for their star Croatian centre-back and have made it clear they don’t want to sell such an asset.
The report also states that Gvardiol, for now, is City’s sole focus, but Villarreal gem Pau Torres has long been a name Guardiola has kept an eye on.
The 26-year-old left-footed centre-back could later be targeted by Man City if a move for Gvardiol does not materialise, although Aston Villa and West Ham United have already registered their interest in the Spanish defender.
Will Man City sign Josko Gvardiol or Pau Torres?
City are stacked at the back, and signing Gvardiol can help make that defensive unit even stronger.
Guardiola switched up City’s defensive system this season, changing from their traditional 4-3-3 formation with overlapping full-backs to an unusual 3-2-4-1 formation with inverted full-backs.
It worked a treat, as the Citizens went on to win a historic treble and claimed their first-ever Champions League title.
What good teams like City do is they do not wait for their squad to become stale to begin their rebuild, they constantly tweak the squad to keep it fresh. Their ambition to sign one of the Bundesliga’s best defenders just weeks after completing the treble shows such intent.
Gvardiol will be expensive, with Leipzig quoting a fee of around £100m for his services, but it is not difficult to see why.
The Croatian "machine" – as hailed by The Athletic's Jordan Campbell back in December – has proved his worth in the RB Leipzig defence, winning 32 of the 59 games the centre-back has played.
If City decide their number one target is too expensive, Torres can become a bargain alternative to star at the Etihad Stadium.
He has proved to be one of the Yellow Submarines' most important players, notching 173 appearances, per Transfermarkt.
The Spanish international, who was once hailed as an "extraordinary talent" by former Villarreal player Javi Calleja, also has 23 caps to his name already and was a part of Villarreal's historic Europa League final win over the red side of Manchester in 2021.
Torres averaged a 7.04 rating across his 34 LaLiga games this season and helped keep 10 league clean sheets.
Villareal’s star defender would cost almost half of what Gvardiol would cost from Leipzig, with Football Espana stating that the ball-playing centre-back has a release clause of €45m (£38m), but could reportedly sell the player for as little as €40m (£34m).
That makes the 6 foot 3 titan around 60% cheaper, which is an attractive prospect in the day and age of Financial Fair Play.
Of course, Torres isn't on the same level as Gvardiol in terms of potential longevity and overall quality but he'd be a mighty fine alternative at that price.
Indeed, he is a comparable player. to the Croatian gem, per FBref's statistical model and it's easy to see why, with the Villarreal star ranking among the top 1% for progressive carries per 90 and the top 4% for progressive passes per 90, when compared to his positional peers across Europe's top five divisions over the last year.
These are two key facets that Guardiola clearly looks for in a centre-back, making his fellow countryman look more and more like a steal at just £34m.
If City’s pursuit of their number one target stalls, then Torres could prove the ultimate bargain buy for Guardiola and the European champions.