One player whose future looks to be far away from Aston Villa could still be on the books after this summer.
The upcoming transfer window will be crucial for Aston Villa to take the next step in their progression under Unai Emery.
After securing Champions League football in the 2023/24 season, the Villans will be hopeful of bolstering the squad in the summer, with outgoings also expected.
That being said, it has now been suggested that one of the club’s top earners could still be on the books at Villa next season, despite having no future under Emery.
Philippe Coutinho could still be an Aston Villa player after the summer
Aston Villa seem to be having trouble shifting Philippe Coutinho, who hasn’t played for the club since August 2023.
The Brazilian, who is one of the club’s top earners with a contract of £125k-a-week, spent the 2023/24 campaign on loan at Qatari side Al-Duhail and will soon return to Villa Park at the expiry of his loan spell.
While Coutinho’s future looks to be far from Villa, there is a chance that the former Liverpool sensation could still officially be a player of the club until next summer.
The reason for this is that reports from Brazilian outlet ge Vasco explain that while Vasco da Gama expect to reunite with the 31-year-old, the ‘most likely path’ is a loan.
It’s added that Vasco are ‘meeting’ with the player this week to make their first ‘financial proposal’.
There will still be hope from both Villa and Coutinho’s entourage that a release can be met to free the player of his contract with the Midlands club, with ge Vasco relaying that the player’s agent is ‘trying to negotiate his release’.
Coutinho’s fall from grace is unfortunate for Villa
It’s hard to believe that in 2018, Coutinho was a £142m footballer, as his fall from the top has been quite staggering since falling out of favour at Barcelona.
There was a glimmer of hope that the Brazilian could rediscover his Premier League form when he initially arrived at Villa on loan however, as the squad progressed, the 31-year-old stalled due to injury and competition.
Now that Villa are on an upward trajectory under Emery’s guidance, it would make sense to part ways with the high-earner, whose brilliance seems to have expired at the top level.
Such opinion is one shared by a former Villan, as Dwight Yorke said that Coutinho’s ‘quality is gone’ when talking about players who have declined quickly.
While there is still a chance that Villa will come to an agreement to terminate the Brazilian’s contract, the scenario of a loan at Vasco could result in the playmaker still being a Villa representative in 2024/25.
