Man Utd and Man City in transfer tussle to land Villarreal star Pau Torres with Spanish club wanting £50m

PAU TORRES has received interest from Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea as the Premier League sides prepare to activate his £50million release clause in the summer.

The Villarreal centre-back has been heavily linked with a move to England for some time.

But the end of this season appears the most likely time for him to secure a move away from the LaLiga side given his release clause can be triggered.

And journalist said: "Pau Torres is attracting interest from top clubs again as his release clause will be valid this summer: €55/60m, available until the end of the market.

"Manchester United and Manchester City are both interested - Chelsea have also sent their scouts to follow him."

Spanish international Torres has impressed since breaking through as a first team regular at Villarreal in 2019.

He was a part of Unai Emery's side which beat Man Utd in the Europa League final last season.

And he has also been key in their run to the Champions League semi-finals this year.

Man Utd are keen to bolster their options at centre-half following an awful season on all fronts.

Club captain Harry Maguire has been out of form, while Raphael Varane has failed to show the kind of quality he provided at Real Madrid.

Victor Lindelof, Eric Bailly and Phil Jones have all been in and out of the team to varying degrees.

Chelsea, who have sent scouts to monitor Torres, are also desperate to sign new defenders as they prepare for the departure of both Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen.

And Man City may be keen to freshen things up in their back line, if only to give themselves some more back-up following Ruben Dias' injury issues.

Torres is set to feature for Villarreal on Wednesday evening when they take on Liverpool in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at Anfield.