Explained: Why Barcelona will be hoping for major Aston Villa transfer as huge claim made

Barcelona will reportedly receive 50% of the money Aston Villa stand to make by selling Philippe Coutinho this summer.

The Brazilian playmaker is being heavily linked with a move to Qatar before the transfer deadline, with a number of clubs said to be “insisting” on a move for the 31-year-old.

Al-Duhail are the latest Qatari club to be linked with a move for the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich man, who was signed by Steven Gerrard back in January 2022 and has made 42 appearances for the club.

He may well have made his last appearance in claret and blue, with a busy close to the summer transfer window expected. Attacking players Moussa Diaby and Nicolo Zaniolo have already arrived at Villa Park, making an exit for Coutinho more likely – despite a long-term injury for Emi Buendia.

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The Toffees opened their campaign with a 1-0 defeat at home to Fulham despite a good performance, while Villa were thumped 5-1 away at Newcastle in their opening game.

But while speaking to Paddy Power (18 August), Lawrenson blasted the officials for their “crazy” decision to disallow Everton’s goal last week, before admitting that he expects them to suffer defeat again this week as they’re on the road.

The Toffees opened their campaign with a 1-0 defeat at home to Fulham despite a good performance, while Villa were thumped 5-1 away at Newcastle in their opening game.

But while speaking to Paddy Power (18 August), Lawrenson blasted the officials for their “crazy” decision to disallow Everton’s goal last week, before admitting that he expects them to suffer defeat again this week as they’re on the road.

Lawrenson might be a Liverpool legend but he knows football and he knows that Everton were robbed of at least a point last week by some horrible refereeing once again.

It happened several times last year with the club getting apologies, but there is no reason why this should still be happening with VAR available and there’s no way there was a foul in that instance last week.

But this week is a new week and a new situation, and it’s going to be very tough to go to Villa Park against a top side who are licking their wounds after defeat last time out.

Villa will come out fast and hard in front of their fans and Everton will need to shut them down and slow down the game to ensure we don’t get blown away, and most importantly take our chances this time.

Hopefully we can perform as we did last week, as the inclusion of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and potentially Arnaut Danjuma should see us score a goal or two and earn us vitalpoints.