Mills says ‘bonus payment’ could see Villa land Coutinho

Aston Villa would like to sign Philippe Coutinho on a permanent deal as he’s impressed since joining on loan from Barcelona, but the financial package may prove a stumbling block. Villa have no problem triggering the 29-year-old’s €40m (£33.6m) buying option, but they may struggle to match his £480k-per-week wages.

Coutinho has been a revelation at Villa Park, scoring four goals and making three assists in nine Premier League appearances. He’s returned to Brazil’s national team and could find himself linked with a host of clubs in the coming months, but Danny Mills believes Villa stand a chance of landing his signature by offering a ‘bonus payment’ from the proposed transfer fee.

He told Football Insider: “Can Villa do a deal on the transfer fee and get him on an incredible cut-price deal? Barcelona gets him off their wage bill which we know is a problem for them. Instead of paying £30million for him, they might pay £10million and use the other £20million to give to him as a bonus or a loyalty payment. It can be done, it can be worked out.”

Mills has a point. Barcelona paid £142m to sign Coutinho from Liverpool in 2018 and are already willing to take a £108m price cut, so they clearly want him off the wage bill more than getting cash up front. Coutinho earns £25m a year at the Camp Nou and has 15 months left on his deal, so his sale would save the Catalans £32.2m.

Barcelona are still recovering from the debt incurred from years of poor spending, so Villa might be able to lower the transfer fee if they can get Coutinho off the wage bill.

In other news, Kevin Phillips says Aston Villa could sign ‘superb’ Kalvin Phillips