Philippe Coutinho must lower eye-watering Barcelona wages to secure permanent Aston Villa transfer

PHILIPPE COUTINHO will have to accept a mammoth wage cut in order to make his Aston Villa move permanent, reports suggest.

Villa are claimed to have the option to buy Coutinho for £33.4million in the summer.

GettyCoutinho will reportedly have to take a monster pay cut to permanently sign for Aston Villa[/caption]

And while the club’s owners have no concerns over paying the transfer fee, Coutinho’s wages are cause for concern, according to the Telegraph.

The 29-year-old takes home a mammoth £25m before tax on his current Barcelona contract.

That works out at a barely believable £480,000-a-week, light-years out of Villa’s price range.

The West Midlanders negotiated with Barcelona to pay Coutinho £120,000-a-week during his six-month loan spell, less than 25 percent of his full wages.

And for any permanent deal to go through this summer, the Brazil international will have to agree to a hefty pay cut.

It’s claimed the final decision on whether Coutinho joins Villa permanently this summer will be down to the player himself.

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But after a stunning start to life at the club, in which he’s scored three goals and provided three assists in seven games, the playmaker could be tempted to sacrifice some earnings for the chance of regular football.

Steven Gerrard is eager to keep former team-mate Coutinho at the club and build his Villa side around the ‘Little Magician’.

As a result a second loan deal for next season has reportedly been discussed between the two clubs, although Villa remain keen on a permanent transfer.

Coutinho still has one year remaining on the bumper five-and-a-half year contract he signed when joining Barcelona from Liverpool for £142m in 2018.

Villa’s previous highest earner was Jack Grealish, who scooped £130,000-a-week in his final season at the club.

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