Real Madrid and Barcelona suffer transfer blow as Valencia increase Ferran Torres clause to £22.3m

Real Madrid and Barcelona will need to pay €25m (£22.3m, $29.2m) to secure the services of Spanish wunderkind Ferran Torres after Valencia reportedly activated an option in the player's contract to increase his release clause from the original €8m fee.

Local publication Super Deporte, Mundo Deportivo and Marca are claiming that the Los Che have been forced to react following growing speculation linking the 17-year-old talent with a move away from Mestalla.

Torres is considered as one of the next big things to emerge from the prolific Valencia academy – which in recent years has overseen the emergence of European top stars like Manchester City's David Silva, Barcelona's Jordi Alba and Real Madrid's Isco.

Last month AS reported that the Spanish winger had attracted the attention of Barcelona and Real Madrid after being described as a describe as a "right-footed version of Marco Asensio".

The Spanish teenager is still paying with Valencia's second team, but he was also part of the Spain squad that beat England in the Under-17 European Championship played in Croatia last May.

Earlier this week Super Deporte reported that Real Madrid, Barcelona Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus were set to battle for his services.

The Valencia-based newspaper said that the two La Liga giants were ready to trigger his €8m release clause in order to win the race.

However, it looks like Barcelona and Real will need to break the bank if they want to sign him after Valencia reacted by activating an option in his contract increasing that clause to €25m.

Super Deporte says Valencia's general manager met with Torres's agents on Thursday morning to activate that option, which will also see the teenager become a member of the first team.

The new contract will also extend his stay at Valencia until 2020, while the previous agreement was set to expire in 2019.

Torres is currently with the Under-17 Spain national team preparing to play the World Cup in India but Super Deporte claims that once he return to Valencia he will be promoted to Marcelino Garcia Toral's side. Furthermore, Los Che are also expected to give him a lucrative pay rise as a reward for his commitment.

Now it looks unlikely that Barcelona or Real Madrid will trigger Torres's new clause but it is worthy to remember that in the summer Los Blancos paid around €45m to beat the Catalans to the signing of Brazilian teenager Vinicius de Oliveira Junior – with the 17-year-old forward continuing his development in Brazil until the summer of 2019.