Aston Villa defender Pau Torres insists he's never rejected Real Madrid or Barcelona during his career.

Torres left Villarreal for Villa over the summer, having long been linked with both LaLiga giants.

He recalled to Relevo: "No, I didn't reject Real Madrid. I would never refuse a team like Real Madrid or Barcelona, you can never refuse them. There were talks but in the end Real Madrid had a very good transfer option, which was to bring (David) Alaba on a free transfer.

"It's very difficult to find that guy on a free transfer. In the end, for a transfer to happen, many circumstances must occur and at that moment it didn't happen. And absolutely nothing happens, you continue to work and your dreams remain intact.

"In this sense, I focused on mine."