Aston Villa are set to secure a loan move away from the club for a player signed by Steven Gerrard, but it is not the permanent exit they had hoped for.
Whilst manager Unai Emery will be keen to focus on bringing players into the Aston Villa squad to improve the side ahead of a Champions League campaign next season, he knows the club need to move players on.
Tim Iroegbunam, Omari Kellyman and Douglas Luiz’ sales were all necessary to ensure Villa complied with Premier League spending rules ahead of the 30th June PSE deadline.
However, there are a number of players in the Villa squad who are unlikely to have a future at the club who need to be moved on this summer to free up squad space as well as reduce the wage bill.
Philippe Coutinho is a player who fits firmly into that category and it now looks as though the Brazilian is set to secure a loan move shortly.
Phillipe Coutinho’s Aston Villa loan departure ‘imminent’
Coutinho is a an enormously talented player whose qualities convinced Barcelona to pay Liverpool £146 million for his services in 2018.
Unfortunately, though, it never worked out for the attacking midfielder at Barcelona and, after a successful loan at Villa Park, Steven Gerrard convinced the board to pay the Catalan club £17 million to sign his former Liverpool teammate in 2022.
Now, two years later and following a loan spell in Qatar last season, Villa have been looking to facilitate an exit for the player and that now seems to be edging closer.
That is according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, who posted on ‘X’: ‘Philippe Coutinho from Aston Villa on loan to Vasco da Gama, it’s imminent’.
Coutinho will not play for Aston Villa again
After his decent start to life at Villa hinted at a career revival at the Midlands club, Coutinho’s injury troubles combined with the arrival of Emery spelt the end for the Brazilian at Villa Park.
A talented individual, Coutinho does not have the work-rate or discipline for Emery to rely on him, especially at 32.
Villa unquestionably would have wanted to secure a permanent exit for Coutinho this summer and were even considering terminating the player’s contract, but now a loan to Brazilian side Vasco De Gama with hopes the deal can be made permanent next summer looks the best bet.
With Coutinho on £125k-a-week at Villa he is one of the club’s highest earners and getting his sizeable wages off the books can be seen as a win this summer.
