Philippe Coutinho ‘does not contemplate’ a move to Newcastle United this summer, despite reports they are ready to pay a ‘fortune’ for him.
That’s according to Sport, who say Coutinho would prefer to ‘lower his salary’ and go somewhere else than maintain what he’s currently on.
The Brazilian is currently shining on loan at Aston Villa, having joined Steven Gerrard’s side in the January transfer window in an attempt to get his career back on track.
He’s definitely doing that, playing a starring role for the Villans, who have an option to sign him permanently for €40m in the summer.
Newcastle are one of them, with it recently reported that they are willing to pay a ‘fortune’ to sign him and have a ‘mega project’ to convince to move to the North East.
Sport, though, say that ‘Newcastle is not an option’ for the Brazilian, and he ‘does not contemplate’ them as an option.
Although they could offer him the same salary he receives at Barcelona, Coutinho prefers to lower his salary and ‘feel at ease’ rather than maintain what he currently earns and go to a team that ‘does not attract his attention’.
In other words, the Brazilian would prefer to lower his wages and stay at Aston Villa under Gerrard rather than keep earning a huge sum and go to Newcastle, which suggests he may have indeed learned a valuable lesson from that move to Barcelona.
