Chelsea and Arsenal were put off by €40-45 million price tag after exploring possibility of signing 25-year-old defender: Reports

Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur were reportedly interested in signing Villarreal defender Pau Torres earlier this summer but were ultimately put off by the player's hefty price tag.

Torres, who has two years left on his current deal, has been an established first-team name for Villarreal over the past three seasons. He has grown in leaps and bounds under head coach Unai Emery, helping the club lift the 2020-21 UEFA Europa League trophy.

A left-footed ball-playing centre-back, Torres has registered 11 goals and six assists in 142 appearances across all competitions for the Yellow Submarine. He is also a first-team regular for Spain, having earned 20 international caps since his debut in November 2019.

In his column for Caught Offside, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claimed that Chelsea, Arsenal, and Tottenham were not keen to dish out a fee of around €45 million for Torres. He wrote:

"Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham also explored this possibility but didn't want to spend €40-45 million. I think it's a very good opportunity on the market. He has experience, quality, left-footed ... a very good centre-back."

Torres opened the 2022-23 season on a positive note with Villarreal. He has started all six of his team's La Liga matches, helping the club register four clean sheets in the process. He is yet to play a part in his club's ongoing UEFA Europa Conference League campaign.

Meanwhile, the Blues ended up signing Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli and Wesley Fofana from Leicester City for a combined sum of around €120 million. The Gunners opted not to add another centre-back to their squad this summer as Mikel Arteta focussed on William Saliba's integration with the first-team squad at the Emirates Stadium.

Spurs, on the other hand, made Cristian Romero's loan move from Atalanta a permanent one during the summer transfer window.

While Chelsea will next be in action against Crystal Palace away from home on October 1, Arsenal are scheduled to host their north London rivals Tottenham on the same day.

New Chelsea signing claims Arsenal player helped him with crucial advice

Chelsea's new boy Gabriel Slonina has lifted the lid on what Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner told him when he suffered a dip in form this summer.

Slonina told "The Call Up," an in-house podcast from the MLS (via MLS Soccer):

"He just told me that even when he was young, he made a lot of mistakes. And I'm going to make mistakes young in my career and they're going to be highlighted."

He added:

"He just told me to keep going and trusting in the path, keep working every single day and you'll find that form again. He was a big help."