Aston Villa are 'seriously interested' in completing a deal for Barcelona forward Ferran Torres this summer - although the player himself appears eager to remain in Catalonia ahead of next season. Villa have been linked with a £35m move for Torres, who scored 19 goals in 45 appearances in all competitions last season, previously, with the playmaker having to often settle for substitute appearances for the Blaugrana. The ex Manchester City attacker, a Spanish international, was behind Raphinha, Lamine Yamal and Robert Lewandowski in manager Hansi Flick's preferred front three last year as Barca won La Liga and the Copa del Rey. There are suggestions now that Barca are set to sign another international forward, Nico Williams, who scored against England in the Euro 2024 final last year, from rivals Athletic Bilbao and that would only increase attacking competition further - and possibly reduce Torres' game-time further as a result. The player would prefer to remain and help form an all Spanish front three with Williams and Yamal, in the event the former does sign, but he isn't likely to be short of interest from elsewhere if he was to become available for transfer and open to completing a move away from the Camp Nou. "I haven't spoken to him," Torres told El Chiringuito recently of Williams. "We met in Ibiza, but we prefer not to talk about it. All the top players want to come to the big teams, and Barca is one of them. I don't know what will happen, but I hope it's for the best. “We’ve already played together in the national team. I’d like to play with him, and we could form a good trio if everything goes well. I see myself at Barcelona and I’m going to stay at Barcelona. I’m optimistic and I’m going to fight to earn a starting spot.” Torres, 25, has two years remaining on his Barca contract. He spent 18 months at City previously, having joined from Valencia in 2018 and then moving back to Spain in January 2020 having scored 16 goals in 43 appearances. His Transfermarkt value currently stands at 40m euros. What should Villa do in the summer window? Have your say HERE Everyday, the BirminghamLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Aston Villa content. Our dedicated reporter John Townley - who you can follow on X by clicking here - follows Villa home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between. So much happens day to day and sometimes you can struggle to keep on top of the very latest updates as and when they occur - that's why we have produced a daily newsletter which you can sign up to, for free, and which means you'll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox. Sign up to the Villa newsletter here. You can also get all your favourite content from BirminghamLive's Villa team on WhatsApp. Click here to sign up for breaking updates about the biggest stories in and around the club. If you prefer reading our Villa stories on your phone, consider downloading the BirminghamLive app, in which you can personalise the content you see by selecting Villa as one of your designated topics. You can get it from Apple here and for Android here. Our weekly Aston Villa podcast, Claret And Blue, is also available to watch and listen on all major streaming services. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel here, while you can access the podcast on Spotify here and via Apple here.