Aston Villa may pay Philippe Coutinho ‘£20m’ directly to seal ‘incredible’ transfer – Mills
Danny Mills has suggested Philippe Coutinho could bank two-thirds of any transfer fee Aston Villa pay Barcelona for him in the summer.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Leeds United and England defender suggested Barcelona will be so keen to get him the 29-year-old off their wage bill they may pay up the final year of his mega-contract to facilitate a permanent move to Aston Villa.
Coutinho moved to Villa Park on loan in the January transfer window and has already registered seven goal contributions in nine Premier League games.
The Athletic’s Gregg Evans said on last Wednesday (9 March) 1874 Podcast that the club have the option to make the deal permanent for £27.8million and his wages for next season have already been agreed.
The Telegraph reported the same day Aston Villa are currently paying around a quarter of the Brazilian’s £480,000-a-week Barcelona wages.
“He’s got a year left at Barcelona,” Mills told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“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.
“This is a problem because people look at these packages and think he’s on £480,000-a-week but he’s not really, he’s on £100,000-a-week but if you win this you get that and if you do this by the end of the season you get this. It all mounts up but people tend to lump it all in because the bigger the numbers the more spectacular it looks.
“On the face of it, it’s ridiculous money. But what did they pay for Buendia? £35million and he’s a lot better than that.”
In other news, Kieran Maguire has saluted Aston Villa after a ‘fantastic’ £56million document reveal.