EXCLUSIVE: Aston Villa in talks to terminate contract of 31-yr-old flop this summer as Unai Emery looks to free up wage bill after player expressed desire to permanently leave Villa Park

Aston Villa are reportedly set to agree on a contract termination with Philippe Coutinho in the next two weeks as talks continue.

The 31-year-old spent this past season on loan at Al-Duhail, as Unai Emery opted to move in a different direction as he continues to strengthen the Villa squad and mould it into his own.

In turn, it’s difficult to see Coutinho having a future with us moving forward, although with his current contract still running until June 2026, it may prove to be a tricky task to try and move him on permanently this summer.

Fortunately, it appears as though a solution could be found in the next two weeks, as Brazilian journalist Bruno Andrade has reported that Villa and Coutinho are expected to reach an agreement on a contract termination within the next fortnight, which in turn will free the Brazilian playmaker to seal a return to Vasco de Gama.

From a Villa perspective, while it would have been ideal to receive a fee for Coutinho to try and recover as much of our outlay as possible, this is now perhaps the next best solution as we would shift his salary off the wage bill.

It remains to be seen what the details of the agreement would be though in terms of whether or not we would have to pay the Brazilian ace off in some form to end his contract early and so terms of the termination agreement will hopefully be favourable for us, but if that’s the path that the club management believe is best for us, then so be it.

That in turn will hopefully help give Emery further flexibility and strength in terms of his ability to spend and improve his squad this summer, as we need reliable and consistent individuals capable of producing across multiple fronts again next season.

For Coutinho, there is seemingly no way back in a Villa shirt now given we already have the likes of Leon Bailey, Moussa Diaby, Jacob Ramsey, Morgan Rogers and Emiliano Buendia to play in attacking midfield roles, and so should we terminate his agreement early and allow him to move back to Brazil, it would surely be the ideal outcome for all concerned.