Club made contact to sign Aston Villa midfielder – Player may have to accept big pay cut

Aston Villa midfielder Philippe COutinho is drawing some interest from Brazil, according to reports from his home country.

On Band, journalist Heverton Guimarães reports that Cruzeiro want the 31-year-old and already made contact for his signing.

For now, there’s no information on how possible that transfer is. The Belo Horizonte club have just changed owners, with Brazilian legend Ronaldo Nazário selling them to Pedro Lourenço, and they’re now set to look at some big targets to sign this year.

Coutinho is currently loaned by Aston Villa to Al-Duhail until the end of June. His contract with the Premier League club runs until 2026, and they’ll definitely try to find another solution for him in the summer market.

As journalist Jorge Nicola shares an update on the situation, he claims that Cruzeiro’s quest to sign the midfielder is actually very unlikely go succeed.

It’s said that even though Aston Villa do not want the player back in their squad, the salary he makes at the Premier League club is impossible for the Brazilian side to afford.

So in case Cruzeiro do try to bring him, it’s very likely they’d ask for a loan, with the English club still paying a big part of his wages, unless he accepts a big pay cut.