January 07, (THEWILL) – Aston Villa has completed a major feat by agreeing to bring in Barcelona midfielder Philippe Coutinho on a season-long loan. Four years after leaving Liverpool for Barcelona in a big-money move, the Brazil playmaker returns to the English Premier League.
Coutinho will rejoin with Steven Gerrard, a former Liverpool teammate who was named Villa manager in November. The 29-year-old, who is under contract with the Catalan giants until June 2023, spent the 2019-20 season on loan with Bayern Munich.
He had had an injury-plagued spell at Camp Nou, with Barcelona aiming to eliminate him from the squad in the off-season in order to make room on the pay bill for new arrivals while also keeping Lionel Messi.
Coutinho could not find a suitor at the time, but he is now on his way to Villa, who are 13th in the EPL at this point of the 2021/2022 season.
An official statement from Villa read: Aston Villa and FC Barcelona have agreed terms for Philippe Coutinho to spend the rest of this season on loan at Villa Park.
“The agreement, which is subject to the player completing a medical and receiving a work permit, also includes an option to buy and Philippe will travel to Birmingham in the next 48 hours.”
Coutinho made 16 Barca appearances across all competitions this season, starting five times and scoring two goals.
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.
