Philippe Coutinho’s good start on his return to England saw Newcastle United take note. The 29-year-old scored four goals and registered three assists from first seven league games.
The player moved on a loan deal from Barcelona in January. As part of the agreement between the two sides, there’s a buying option that is set at €40m.
On March 31st, Sport reported that Newcastle United are ready to pay a ‘fortune’ to make the attacking midfielder part of their ‘mega project’ next season.
Fast forward to May, and today’s edition of the same newspaper talks about the Tyneside club’s interest in the Brazilian.
Aston Villa have an option to make the former Liverpool star’s stay permanent and Barca ‘await a definitive answer’ from them.
Should the Birmingham club decide not to retain him, then the La Liga side will ‘negotiate with other clubs’ who have ‘shown interest in taking over’ his services.
Newcastle United are among them as Sport state the Tyneside club are ‘one of the teams that could enter the bid for Coutinho’ in the summer.
Over at Mundo Deportivo, they report Coutinho ‘already generates doubts’. He failed to manage a goal or assist for close to two months [last six matches].
This, coupled with his high salary has made his suitors ‘take it more calmly’.
Newcastle are considering whether or not to make an approach for the South American.
If they decide to take that step, then they will have to convince the player because the option to join the Magpies is ‘not among the priorities’ of Coutinho.
