Aston Villa are desperate to sign Philippe Coutinho on a permanent deal this summer after how well he’s done on loan, but there were doubts whether he’d buy into the project or join a side elsewhere already offering European football.
The 29-year-old joined from Barcelona in January and took little time to impress back in the Premier League, but the Catalans don’t want him back at the Camp Nou. Villa have the option to sign Coutinho permanently and Ashley Preece of Birmingham Live says a deal is ‘likely to go through’.
The Brazilian international is keen to stay at Villa Park and Steven Gerrard hasn’t hidden his desire to make it happen, so all that is left is ‘dotting Is and crossing Ts’, according to Preece. Coutinho has made 14 appearances for Villa this season, scoring four goals with three assists.
The 29-year-old has created 24 chances, had 19 successful dribbles, whipped in 17 crosses and completed 81.6% of his passes. Coutinho can operate on the left flank or as a central attacking-midfielder, so he can provide a threat in multiple positions.
Villa will have to pay around £33m to sign the Brazilian permanently which doesn’t appear to be a problem, so it’s a matter of when and not if the deal is confirmed.
In other news, journalists say ‘classy’ Tim Iroegbunam ‘looked the part’ v Norwich
