Aston Villa pondering ‘doing a Coutinho’ to sign Premier League winner wanted by Newcastle

Aston Villa are reportedly weighing up making an approach to Barcelona for versatile forward Ferran Torres as Unai Emery looks to add to his attacking options.

The former Manchester City man, who won two Premier League titles under Pep Guardiola, has also been linked to Newcastle United in recent days.

Although a big-money arrival with a £47.3 million fee paid to City for his services in January 2022, Torres’ time at Spotify Camp Nou could already be nearing its conclusion.

Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo claims Villa are considering requesting a loan from Barça with a purchase option of £21.5 million to bring in the attacker.

It would be a similar deal to the one that brought Philippe Coutinho to Villa Park as the Brazilian initially signed on loan before joining permanently for £17 million.

It’s claimed, however, that Barcelona would “not be seduced by a loan” and would want a higher fee in order to let Torres go, recouping more of the funds spent originally.

This follows a report from The Athletic, claiming Barcelona are keen to offload the Spaniard in order to boost the transfer kitty. Head coach Xavi is said to have “lost faith” in the player.

Torres has failed to hit the ground running at Barça as he has contributed just eight goals and six assists in 51 La Liga appearances, often a backup to Ansu Fati and Ousmane Dembélé.

He’s still just 23 years of age, though, and showed plenty of promise during his only full Premier League season with City, scoring seven goals – including a hat-trick against Newcastle.

Villa, who have already signed Youri Tielemans from Leicester City and are closing in on Pau Torres from Villarreal, will no doubt need to add to their forward line as they approach European football.