Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard drops hint about permanent Coutinho transfer

Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard has confirmed that he wants to sign Philippe Coutinho on a permanent transfer once his current loan deal expires at the end of the season.

Since moving back to the English Premier League on loan for the rest of the season, Coutinho has enjoyed a great run of form, scoring three and assisting as many in seven league games.

Now, Barcelona have indeed included an option to buy for a fee reported to be around €40 million but it remains to be seen whether the Premier League side will, in fact, agree to pay that much for a player who is already out of favour at his parent club.

Speaking of the impact Coutinho has made at Villa, Gerrard said he wanted to give the Barcelona loanee a breath of fresh air after failing to settle in La Liga and fortunately enough, all has worked out for the parties involved.

“All I can do is give my opinion to (sporting director) Johan Lange, (chief executive) Christian Purslow and the owners. They are watching the games, and they will make the final decision. Phil has shown what he is capable of so far,” Gerrard was quoted by Daily Mail.

“Phil was successful at Barcelona but he had difficult periods as well,”

“He got to the stage where he needed a change of scenery and a different movie. We want to be that movie for him because if we want to get to where we want to be, we need to build it around talents like Phil, because at his best he is a high-level player,” he added.

Outlining Coutinho as a big-game player, the former Liverpool midfielder added that the Brazilian is someone who has the stature of troubling defences. At the same time, however, he admitted although he wants the winger to continue, he cannot really expect the Villa owners to spend the extravagant wages the player will demand.

“All good teams have game-changers who the opposition are really concerned about before a ball is kicked. Phil has that status and he is giving belief to his team-mates.

“Our strikers Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings want him alongside them because he delivers on the big stage. I don’t control transfer fees or wages,” he said. 

It will be actually interesting to see how everything pans out at the end of the season. Coutinho’s salary was being shared by both Villa and Barcelona at the moment with the former said to be paying around €150,000-a-week. Eventually, the 29-year-old gave up his salary from Barça’s side.

That aside, Coutinho is on a €300,000-a-week wage and if he does end up at Villa, it’s only natural to believe he will have to lower his figures.