Pau Francisco Torres (born 16 January 1997) is a Spanish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

and the Spain national team. He began his career with

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

, making 173 competitive appearances and winning the 2021 Europa League; he was also loaned to

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

. In July 2023, he signed with Aston Villa. Torres made his full debut for

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 2019, scoring in his first game. He was part of the squads at

Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

and the 2022 World Cup.

Club career

Villarreal

Born in

Province of Castellón Castellón (officially in ca-valencia, Castelló) is a province in the northern part of the Valencian Community. It is bordered by the provinces of Valencia to the south, Teruel to the west, Tarragona to the north, and by the Mediterranean Sea ...

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

, Torres played youth football with

. He made his league debut with the reserves on 21 August 2016, starting in a 1–0

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

away loss against Cornellà. Torres scored his first senior goal on 8 October 2016, the first in a 2–2 home draw with

Badalona Badalona (, , , ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality to the immediate north east of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the left bank of the Besòs River and on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Barcelona metropolitan area. By popu ...

. His maiden competitive appearance for the first team took place on 20 December, when he came on as a late substitute for Víctor Ruiz in the 1–1 home draw against Toledo in the round of 32 of

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

; by doing so, he became the first player born in Villarreal to debut for the club in 13 years. Torres played his first match in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

on 26 November 2017, replacing fellow youth graduate Manu Trigueros late into a 2–3 home loss to

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

. He made his

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

debut ten days later, starting and finishing the 0–1 group stage defeat against

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

also at the Estadio de la Cerámica. On 6 August 2018, Torres was loaned to

for one year. He only missed four

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

games during his spell as the side reached the

promotion play-offs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

and, subsequently, was recalled by his parent club. Torres subsequently cemented his place in Villarreal's starting XI, playing every minute in the league. In October 2019, he was rewarded with a contract extension until 2024, and the same month scored his first goal in the Spanish top tier, opening a 2–1 loss at

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El ...

. Torres contributed nine appearances in the

2020–21 UEFA Europa League The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League was the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Villarreal defeated Manchester United i ...

as the tournament ended in a first-ever European victory for the team, under manager

Unai Emery Unai Emery Etxegoien (born 3 November 1971) is a Spanish football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Aston Villa. After a career spent playing mostly in Spain's Segunda División, Emery transitioned into coa ...

. This included

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

win over

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

after a 1–1 draw.

Aston Villa

On 12 July 2023, Torres signed for

for a reported fee of £31.5 million, rejoining coach Emery.

International career

Torres got his first call up for the Spain national team by

Robert Moreno Robert Moreno González (born 19 September 1977) is a Spanish football manager. He worked in youth and amateur football before becoming assistant to Luis Enrique at various clubs and the Spain national football team. In 2019, Moreno succeeded h ...

on 4 October 2019, for

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

qualifiers against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. He did not debut until 15 November when he scored in a 7–0 rout of

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

for the already qualified hosts, within a minute of replacing

Sergio Ramos Sergio Ramos García (; born 30 March 1986) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Paris Saint-Germain and the Spain national football team, Spain nationa ...

;

Dani Olmo Daniel Olmo Carvajal (born 7 May 1998) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Bundesliga club RB Leipzig and the Spain national team. He can play as either an attacking midfielder or a winger. After a period at FC Barcelona, he ma ...

also scored on his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

in that game, the first time that two Spaniards did so in exactly 30 years. Torres was included in

Luis Enrique Luis Enrique Martínez García (; born 8 May 1970), known as Luis Enrique, is a Spanish football manager and former player. A versatile player with good technique, he was capable of playing in several different positions, but usually played as ...

's 24-man squad for the finals. He was also selected for the Olympic team that won a silver medal at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Torres goal.''

Honours

Villarreal *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Spain U23 *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

silver medal:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Spain *

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

runner up:

Individual *UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season:

References

External links

Villarreal official profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Torres, Pau 1997 births Living people People from Villarreal Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Castellón Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Villarreal CF B players Villarreal CF players Málaga CF players Premier League players Aston Villa F.C. players UEFA Europa League winning players Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's under-23 international footballers Spain men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Olympic footballers for Spain Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Olympic silver medalists for Spain Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England