Speaking to Football Insider, Michael Brown has backed Everton to make a sensational move for Barcelona star Philippe Coutinho.

What did he say?

The Brazilian has endured a difficult time of things since leaving Liverpool a few years ago, and has spent this season on loan at Bundesliga side Bayern Munich.

Reports in recent weeks have claimed that Barcelona are willing to cut their losses on Coutinho, and that Everton have been told via intermediaries that he could be available for a fee of around £80m this summer.

Now, Brown has thrown his backing behind a potential move, suggesting that he is the type of high-profile player that Carlo Ancelotti would want at Goodison Park.

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He said: "What a story that would be, wouldn’t it? I think it’s always, when you’re at big clubs, you go to their rivals, we’ve seen it before and it’s not always welcome from different sets of supporters here and there.

"He’s a great talent and Everton, you would expect Ancelotti to be going for some big players. He’s one of those.”

Ambition

Putting aside Coutinho's ties to Liverpool, there's no doubting the Brazilian still remains a top-class player on his day.

Whilst Barcelona were seemingly happy enough to join up with Bayern Munich for this season on a loan deal, he has still produced some fairly impressive numbers in Germany. As per Transfermarkt, in his 32 games for the club, he has scored nine times and provided a further eight assists, and a return to the Premier League could see him hit top form again.

In fact, the very nature of him signing with Everton could give him that added chip on his shoulder of trying to prove Liverpool wrong. It could lead him to greater performances, and splashing out £80m on him would also be a major statement of intent that the Toffees mean business in the transfer market this summer.