Gerrard makes Coutinho transfer admission as Aston Villa expose Arsenal and Tottenham mistake

Here are your latest Philippe Coutinho headlines on Monday, March 7, 2022.

Aston Villa head coach Steven Gerrard wants Philippe Coutinho to join the club on a permanent basis in the summer, but insists any decision regarding his long-term future will be made by Johan Lange and Christian Purslow.

The Brazilian is starting to recapture the sort of form which tempted Barcelona to break their record transfer fee and sign him from Liverpool in January 2018 for no less than £142million.

Since arriving at Villa Park in January, Coutinho has contributed to six goals in seven Premier League appearances, and supporters have already fallen in love with the latest Brazilian to pull on claret and blue.

Gerrard says Coutinho has all the traits Villa need as they look to re-establish themselves among the league’s top sides over the next few seasons.

"Phil was successful at Barcelona but he had difficult periods as well," said Gerrard.

"He got to the stage where he needed a change of scenery and a different movie.

"We want to be that movie for him because if we want to get to where we want to be, we need to build it around talents like Phil, because at his best he is a high-level player."

Former Aston Villa striker Chris Sutton claims Philippe Coutinho is a "tremendous talent" but has questioned whether the Brazilian can remain consistent until the end of the season.

"He couldn’t get into the Barcelona team with two different managers," Sutton said on BBC 606.

"If you look at his record over the last couple of seasons, you’d have seen what happened at Bayern Munich, at Barcelona, he couldn’t get regular games.

"In patches, he has played well for Villa and he is a tremendous talent, but can he keep it going over the long haul? Let's