Philippe Coutinho transfer to Aston Villa from Barcelona cast into doubt

Former Aston Villa attacker Paul Merson is "not sure" Aston Villa will exercise the option to permanently sign Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona.

The Brazil international has missed just five minutes of action after returning from South America in the winter break and has already contributed two goals and a further two assists in six appearances so far since arriving from the Catalan club in January.

Villa have the option to sign the 29-year-old permanently for £33 million this summer when the loan deal expires.

Merson is unsure whether there is room for the former Liverpool attacking midfielder, though.

"It’s probably a little early to speak about this," Merson told sportskeeda, "but it’ll be interesting to see if Villa exercise the option to sign Philippe Coutinho permanently.

"I’m not sure if they will, and I’m only saying that because they already have Emiliano Buendia, who is also a number 10.

"I personally don’t think they can play together, but we’ll have to wait and see how the situation develops between now and the end of the season."

Since arriving from Norwich City for a club-record fee worth around that same £33 million mark last summer, Buendia has struggled to acclimatise back to the Premier League on paper.

This comes on the back of a standout season in the Championship where the Argentina international racked up 15 goals and just as many assists on course to being named the division's player of the season.

Buendia was named Villa's player of the month for January after starting all four matches and scoring the winner at Goodison Park against Everton, but that did not quite carry over into last month.

The 25-year-old was substituted in the first three matches after returning from