January 05, (THEWILL) –Â Aston Villa has started talks with Barcelona about loaning Philippe Coutinho for the rest of the season.
Coutinho is still on the outside of the Barcelona squad and is thought to have realised that he needs to depart to improve his chances of joining the Brazil World Cup squad in Qatar in 2022.
Initial rumours suggested Arsenal would compete with Everton and Tottenham for Coutinho’s talents, but Cope claims that Aston Villa are now striving to win the race for his signature.
The link between Villa and Coutinho comes from the player’s ecstatic reaction about the thought of returning to the Premier League, which he preferred over a return to Brazil.
Villa are in talks with Coutinho to bring him to Villa Park on a six-month loan contract, where he would rejoin former Liverpool teammate and current manager Steven Gerrard.
The Villans are still trying to replace the creativity that was taken away by Jack Grealish’s summer transfer to Manchester City. Emi Buendia has done a good job this season, leading the squad with three assists, but Gerrard wants to add more to that in the January window.
Coutinho is a player Gerrard is familiar with, and he is eager to offer him the chance to relaunch his career and reunite with Brazil teammate Douglas Luiz.
Negotiations are far from done, and Coutinho’s hefty salaries make this a difficult deal to pull off, but everyone involved is eager to reach an agreement.
Barcelona are hoping to offload Coutinho as soon as possible in order to make room in the squad for new acquisition Ferran Torres, who has yet to be registered following his £55 million move from Manchester City, as THEWILL reported.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
