Aston Villa are close to sealing the permanent transfer of Phillippe Coutinho.
Sportsmail revealed earlier this week that Villa had made an offer of £12million for the former Liverpool star, significantly lower than the set £33m fee that was agreed when Coutinho signed from Barcelona on loan in January.
And Spanish sources have told Sportsmail that an agreement between Villa and Barcelona is now ‘close’ with the expectancy being that the deal will get done.
Barcelona are willing to take a financial hit to move the Brazilian's sizeable salary off their books.