Philippe Coutinho to Aston Villa transfer doubts as fresh Barcelona claims emerge

Doubt has been cast over Philippe Coutinho's potential permanent transfer to Aston Villa.

Coutinho signed for Villa in January from Barcelona, on an initial loan deal until the end of the season. The Nou Camp side were keen to get some of Coutinho's salary off their books with the Brazilian under contract until the end of the season.

Coutinho was convinced to join Villa by his former Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard and has been a good addition to his new team. With four goals and three assists in seven games, Coutinho has made a good impact at Villa but he has struggled in recent games along with his team-mates.

Villa are on a run of four straight defeats and Coutinho has not registered either a goal or assist in any of those games. Indeed, Coutinho's last goal came over a month ago.

It is likely that Villa will still want to trigger the £33million option they have in the deal struck with Barca in January to purchase Coutinho at the end of the season. But reports in Catalonia from Mundo Deportivo, via Sport Witness, claim that it will be 'difficult' for Villa to pay the money required to sign Coutinho but it is also acknowledged that it makes sense for Barcelona to sanction a deal for the player.

Villa boss Gerrard spoke after the Leeds United game on March 10, when Coutinho scored his most recent goal and dazzled in a 3-0 win, and confirmed that he would like to see the player sign permanently. "I think you all know what my decision would be," Gerrard said.

"I think you all know what I think of him but this is not as straightforward as people think. There is obviously an option in place, Barcelona still own the player.

"Phil has got to obviously want to be here in terms of the big picture but he is enjoying