Pino to Arsenal, Pau Torres to Man Utd - the Villarreal stars who could transfer
Martin Macdonald
- 8 Apr 2022 17:58 BST
- 4 min read
This week Villarreal face a tough task in getting beyond German giants Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
The first leg of the quarter-final tie between the two sides takes place at Estadio de la Ceramica.
It will again be an opportunity for several Villarreal stars to put themselves in the shop window on the European stage, in a similar way to last season when the Yellow Submarine won the Europa League.
Villarreal have long been a selling club if the money is right, and they will be bracing themselves for big-money bids for some of their players in 2022.
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Pau Torres
Pau Torres was a wanted man this summer, with Manchester United, Tottenham and Real Madrid strongly linked.
Spurs reportedly bid €60m.
He didn't welcome any advances, though, stating his wish to play in the Champions League with hometown club Villarreal.
“The pull of playing the Champions League with the team from my town was bigger [than moving to Tottenham]," he told the Guardian.
“I was clear from the start. This is only the fourth time Villarreal reached the Champions League, which shows how hard it is and it was a dream to play the competition with my lifelong club.
“The president didn’t put pressure on me, even though they could make a lot of money. He always said ‘the decision’s yours,’ that he’d respect it. I appreciate that.”
Now that the dream of playing in the Champions League with Villarreal has been achieved, he may be more open to a move.
Yeremi Pino
At youth level, Yeremi Pino was at Huracan and Las Palmas before joining Villarreal in 2017. At that time, he reportedly had the opportunity to sign for Barcelona but turned the Blaugrana down in order to join the set up at Villarreal.
The fact Barcelona were so keen to sign him in his mid-teens does provide an indication of the type of player he is and his potential quality.
He broke into the team as a key player last season and has went from strength to strength. In the 2021/22 season he has seven goals and four assists to his name.
At the moment, the two clubs most heavily linked with Yeremy are Arsenal and Newcastle.
The latter are hoping to sweeten any deal for the player by offering Miguel Almiron in part-exchange.
Arnaut Danjujma
Following a successful spell at Bournemouth which saw Arnaut Danjuma bag 24 goal contributions in 35 appearances in the Championship, he made the move to Spain last summer when the Yellow Submarine offered to pay €25 million for his signature.
Though his goalscoring has went down at a higher level, his return of 13 goals and five assists in 2021/22 is still impressive.
Danjuma has also kept some of his best performances on the grandest stage in Europe as he has five goals in the Champions League this season.
Liverpool were the club most heavily linked with the player, though these reports were more intense before they signed Luis Diaz in January.
Newcastle, again, are interested and could offer a similar deal to the Almiron one mentioned above.
Aissa Mandi
Aissa Mandi is a transfer target for Milan and Lyon this summer.
Since his move from Betis, he has started just 12 matches and Villarreal could attempt to cash-in on the central defender.
