Aston Villa to complete sensational transfer 'in a heartbeat' after Steven Gerrard comments

Ex-Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish believes his former club will have no trouble in making Philippe Coutinho's stay in the Midlands permanent in the summer, following the end of his loan move from Barcelona.

The 29-year-old could join Villa on a permanent basis for a fee believed to be £33million, after his parent club inserted an option for the Premier League team to buy in the deal which saw Coutinho leave Barcelona at the start of January initially on loan.

He has made an encouraging start to life as a Villa player, having recorded four goal contributions in his first four appearances in claret and blue.

And McLeish has backed Villa to sanction his permanent transfer "in a heartbeat" at the end of the season.

McLeish told Football Insider: “Let’s face it, England has the richest league in the world in the Premier League.

“They can do it in a heartbeat. Other clubs would probably find it a little bit difficult to find those kinds of sums.

“Barcelona, he’s not going to go back there, is he? Could he do a Real Madrid or an Italian job, if you’ll pardon the pun?

“I think no. Listen, I think he’ll stay at Aston Villa. That is not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things when you think of transfers nowadays.”

Following Coutinho's stunning performance against Leeds United last week, Steven Gerrard claimed the Brazilian had settled in his new surroundings and is enjoying his football again.

“He seems happy, we have given the stage to go and enjoy his football again," the Villa boss said.

“His vision and his awareness, if you don’t love watching that you should stop watching football.”