Real Madrid linked to Pau Torres even though they are probably too poor to buy him

Admittedly, I’m not a financial wizard, but when a club is trying to negotiate a 10-20% wage reduction for its playing staff and is taking part in an extremely expensive stadium innovation I struggle to see how they could afford to pay for someone like Pau Torres, who has a 50m release clause. Pau Torres is the best center back the Spanish national team has, fans of Sergio Ramos or anyone else can get over any offense they take to that, and Villarreal selling him for less than his clause would be absurd.

Nevertheless, the transfer rumor mill in football never stops. Some clubs, Madrid included, will continue to be linked with players even if they literally file for bankruptcy, and so Marca finds itself asking if Pau Torres is the ‘Sergio Ramos of the future’. Marca says that if Madrid do not sign David Alaba, then they will sign Pau Torres. The trouble is these two moves are simply not the same sort of thing at all. David Alaba will be out of contract in June. The only cost of the transfer would be his wages. His wage demands would probably be higher than Pau’s, but higher to the point that it makes up for what Madrid would have to pay to meet their clause. Frankly, I don’t think Madrid have the money to do this deal.

Fans of the capital club will surely scoff at me regarding their finances in this matter. There’s a sense of entitlement to all the riches of Spanish football when you pull for one of the big two, but they can get over that as well. Pau is too good as both a player and individual to be subjected to the inevitable whistles the Bernabeu gives its own players, and in many respects Villarreal is a club on more stable financial footing than Madrid is. Emery was brought in to turn this project into something that wins trophies, and our star young CB is crucial to that process.

Go shop somewhere else, Madrid.