‘Explored’: Romano says Chelsea considered signing 25-year-old this summer, but decided £40m was too expensive

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Fabrizio Romano has claimed in his CaughtOffside column that Chelsea considered a deal for Villarreal’s Pau Torres during the last transfer window.

The Blues launched somewhat of a defensive overhaul over the summer, following the departures of key members Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen.

After a long summer of failing to secure a number of targets, the club still came out of the summer with the additions of Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana.

The former Brighton man has arguably been the pick of the bunch so far, with the other two not featuring in Graham Potter’s first game in charge against RB Salzburg.

Things could have looked very different however if the Blues had instead gone for Torres, who was being looked at by a number of Premier League clubs.

Chelsea thought Torres was too expensive

However, Romano has claimed that the owners were put off a deal for the Spaniard due to the price Chelsea’s last Super Cup opponents were looking for.

He said: “Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham also explored this possibility but didn’t want to spend €40-45m.

“I think it’s a very good opportunity on the market; he has experience, quality, left footed … a very good CB.”

A defender who has great ability on the ball is certainly one of the major factors Premier League clubs look for in their centre-backs now, and Torres would have certainly fitted that description well.

However, his ability to defend at the highest level has come into question before, and in big games in the Premier League and Champions League the potential to be exposed is certainly there.

Potter is no doubt looking to work out which of the current crop of defenders he will utilise going forwards, with him going for the experienced pairing of Cesar Azpilicueta and Thiago Silva last time out.