Player claims he ‘surely wouldn’t have’ joined Aston Villa without Unai Emery

Spain manager Luis de la Fuente has included Aston Villa’s Pau Torres in his squad for the ongoing international break. He returned to national team squad for the first time since November 2023.

This gave La Razón an opportunity to have a chat with the defender, who arrived at Aston Villa from Villarreal in July 2023.

The move saw the 27-year-old reunite with Unai Emery at Villa Park. He played under the manager at Villarreal between 2020 and 2022, winning the Europa League in 2021.

Torres came up through the ranks of the La Liga side’s youth system. La Razón asked him about Emery’s influence on his decision to leave the Yellow Submarine for the Villans.

When responding to that, the centre-back was honest in admitting he wouldn’t have made a switch to Villa Park if Emery wasn’t there at the club.

“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 and surely if he had not been at Aston Villa I wouldn’t have taken that step,” he said.

“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.”

When asked if Emery had the most influence in his career, Torres explained: “Yes, I think he’s the coach with whom I have played the most games. 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.”

Emery helped Aston Villa finish in the top four last season and qualify for the Champions League for the first time in over four decades. Torres played 39 games in all competitions last season and has made nine appearances this season.