Aston Villa face Coutinho challenge

According to a recent report from Daily Telegraph, Philippe Coutinho may have to take a big pay cut if he wants to stay at Aston Villa.

Coutinho, who has made a solid impact thus far since arriving in the Midlands, is currently on loan from Spanish giants Barcelona. His £480,000-per-week wages were always going to be a problem for Villa if they wanted to make his deal permanent and now that we’re entering the final few months of the campaign, it’s something they’ll have to give some real consideration to.

Of course, Coutinho himself will have some thoughts on the matter, and you’d have to imagine he’ll be interested in staying in the Premier League given the joy he’s been having.

Barca, meanwhile, have financial problems of their own, and would likely welcome the opportunity to get Coutinho off of their books – but given what we know about both parties, it’ll likely come down to the wire.